Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20240711

We will speak with independent journalist allan nairn and unit organizer Jane Mcalevey got how to stop and electoral coup and what went wrong in the 2000 flood recount. Then georgia flips blue for now, as joe biden pulls ahead of trump for the first time in extraordinarily tight race for the states 16 elecral votes. Ware patitly watchg as demoacy is mos definitely at stake in to see whether or no georgia will fp for thecratic candidate for First Time Since 1992. Amy will in the u. S. , millions of people are mesmerized by the president ial race, ipuerto ric the isld is dealg with its own race that produced very different results, including the election of afro puerto rican human rights feminist and l lgbtq activist ana irma rivera lassen. Is i am anmeans btqi and others the black woman. The discrimination some of us may face. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman. Democric president ial nominee joe biden has taken a roughly 900vote lead in georgia as mailin ballots continue to be counted in key battleground states. According to the Associated Press, biden has secured 264 electoral votes and needs to win just one of the undecided battleground states to top the needed 270. Biden is also expanding his leading in nevada and gaining ground in pennsylvania, where trumps lead is down to 18,000 votes with over 160,000 absentee ballots still uncounted. Bidens lead in the popular vote is now approaching 4 million and is expected to keep growing significantly. On thursday, joe biden called for all votes to be counted. Mr. Biden in america, the vote is sacred. It is how people in this nation express their wealth. It is the will of the voters, no one, not anything else, that chooses the president of the United States of america. Must be counted and that is what were going to see going through now and that is how it should be. Amy President Trump addressed the nation early thursday evening and falsely claimed victory and accused democrats of trying to steal the election. He offered no evidence to back up his claims. Pres. Trump we think there is going to be a lot of litigation as we have so much evidence, so much proof, and it is going to end up perhaps at the highest court in the land. We will see. But we think there will be a lot of litigation because we cant have an election stolen like this. Amy abc, cbs, nbc, and msnbc all stopped airing trumps speech live because it was filled with lies about the election and the vote counting process. On thursday, the Trump Campaign faced multiple setbacks in the courtroom. In georgia, a judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming without evidence that some 53 absentee ballots arrived too late to be counted. In michigan a judge rejected the campaigns request to stop the counting of absentee ballots. In pennsylvania a federal judge dismissed a republican request to halt vote counting in philadelphia. The Trump Campaign had initially claimed its observers had been barred from monitoring the count , but in the courtroom, a lawyer for the campaign admitted that the trump team did in fact have observers inside. The judge, who was appointed by george w. Bush, said im sorry, then whats your problem . Meanwhile, in nevada, the Trump Campaign announced plans to ask a federal court to stop the counting of improper votes. Nevada Election Officials say there is no evidence of improper ballots being counted. The Trump Campaign did succeed in pennsylvania on one minor legal fight as a state judge ruled Trump Campaign workers can get closer to the ballot counting in philadelphia. From Something Like 20 feet to six feet. Meanwhile, Trump Campaign Legal Adviser Harmeet Dylan told fox business the campaign is hoping new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney barrett will help trump win the presidency if a case does make its way to the Supreme Court. Were waiting for the United States freeport, which the president has nominated three justices, to step in and do something. Hopefully, Amy Coney Barrett will come through. Amy meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham has publicly agreed that republican state legislators in pennsylvania and other states should consider invalidating the will of the voters and appoint republican electors to the Electoral College regardless of the vote outcome. Republicans control the legislatures in wisconsin, pennsylvania, michigan, north carolina, georgia, and arizona. Senator graham was asked about this by sean hannity on fox news. Should these republican lawmakers in pennsylvania and elsewhere, if there is corruption they dont abide by the law and dont allow observers in as the law calls for, should they did invalidate this . I think every thing should be on the table, so there is the process of observing an election that is being violated philadelphia elections are cricket as a snake. Amy concern is growing that supporters of trump may begin using violence to disrupt the electoral process. On thursday, the president s son donald trump jr. Called for total war over this election. This comes as police in philadelphia have arrested two men after receiving a tip that men armed with ar15s were driving a hummer up from virginia to attack the Pennsylvania Convention center where votes are still being counted. Police stopped the vehicle just north of the convention center. The hummer had several stickers connected to the protrump qanon conspiracy theory. Meanwhile, Election Officials are openly saying they are worried about the safety of their staff due to a spike in threats. Joe gloria is the registrar in clark county, nevada, where votes are still being counted. I can tell you my wife and my mother are very concerned for me, but we have security here. We have Law Enforcement who are protecting us. I am concerned for the safety of my staff. We are putting measures into place to make sure we have the security that is necessary. Amy meanwhile, the secret service is reportedly sending reinforcements to wilmington, delaware, to protect joe biden, who could gi a victory speech as early as today. Meanwhile, twitter has permanently banned President Trumps former Campaign Manager steve bannon from the platform after he called for the beheading of the nations top Infectious Disease expert, dr. Anthony fauci, and fbi director christopher wray. Bannon made the comment on his podcast war room pandemic. I would like to go back to the whole times of tutor, england. I would put the heads on pikes. I would put them at the two corners of the white house. As a warning to federal bureaucrats. Either get with the program, or you are gone. Amy here in new york, Police Arrested 18 demonstrators during a nighttime protest against President Trumps attempt to steal the election. Meanwhile, in phoenix, arizona, supporters of trump briefly scuffled with supporters of biden outside and maricopa coty elections department. In other election news, georgia may now be facing two Runoff Senate elections in january and the ouome could decide which Party Controls the senate. Georgia republican senator david perdue has fallen below the needed 50 to beat democrat jon ossoff outright. At the time of this broadcast, perdue was at 49. 8 . A runoff is already set for republican georgia senator Kelly Loeffler and reverend Raphael Warnock for the states other senate seat. Meanwhile in michigan, Republican Senate candidate challenger john james is refusing to concede to democratic senator gary peters. James has asked for an investigation into the vote but has presented no evidence of wrongdoing. International election observers who monitored tuesdays vote say they found no evidence to support President Trumps claim of voter fraud. The organization for security and cooperation in europe delegation was headed by german lawmaker Michael Georg link who said baseless allegations of systematic deficiencies, notably by the incumbent president , including on Election Night, harm public trust in democratic institutions. The United States recorded more than 120,000 new coronavirus cases, the highest one day total of any country since the pandemic began. The u. S. Recorded more cases on thursday alone than either china or japan have reported in total since the pandemic began. Cases have hit record highs in 20 states with the largest increases in colorado, maine, minnesota, and iowa. Meanwhile, the state of new jersey released more than 2000 prisoners on thursday in an attempt to reduce the spread of covid19 inside the states prison system. In international news, britain began a fourweek lockdown on thursday. Greece has announced a threeweek shutdown starting on sunday. In economic news, another 751,000 people filed for unemployment last week in the United States. Over 30 million have sought unemployment aid since the pandemic began. This comes as feeding america warns the number of people facing Food Insecurity in the u. S. Could rise to over 50 million th year, iluding 1 milln childr, due tohe pandemic. In houng news, real este coany ownein part white use seni adviserared kushner s submitd evicti filings court f hundredof nants o are bend on re. Theashingtopost ports weminster nagement preparinto evicthe tenan soon astate andederal moratoums on ections eire. Inmmigrati news, ve ports imgration d custom enfoement isttemptinto deportore womewho may ve dergone nconsenal invasive gynecologal procedur at irwidetention cent in geora. E has alady depoed sever rvivors d has thatened t port oths, inclung a 25yeard mexicawoman nad ana cagal adanhocurrentl fighti her remal. She sa she undwent an aggrsive gynological procure at iin in feuary. In more immigration news, activists continue to demand the release of hundreds of cameroonian Asylum Seekers in ice custody. Democracy now spoke to sylvie bello, founder of the cameroonian american council, ahead of her freedom friday campaign, a weekly day of action in solidarity with cameroonians held in ice prisons. Freedom friday was inspired by 40 cameroonian hunger strikers who protested ,ntiblackness, antiafricaness and racismnder louisiana. Today, some of those hunger stkers are set foreportation on tuesday. Please join us in calling the congressional black caus to theseor theelease of cameroonianfor tps,nd to lift black imgrants within the detention and outside of detention. Amy in ntral america, hurricane eta has killed at least 57 people as the storm caused heavy rains and flooding. Most of the deaths have been in guatemala, where the Associated Press reports at least 42 were killed due to mud slides. Massive floods were also reported across the Atlantic Coast of honduras, including in San Pedro Sula where hundreds of people were evacuated. Yesterday afternoon, videos of a completely flooded San Pedro Sula International Airport emerged on social media. At least 13 people have died in honduras. Israeli authorities have demolished the palestinian bedouin village of Khirbet Humsah in the occupied west bank, leaving 73 people homeless, including 41 minors. These really military me with jeeps and bulldozer they ordered us to mtr homes. The only get is 10 minutes. That is not enough timto empty even a sine tent. We did not haveime to remove everything. They demolished it all with our ings insid amy accordi to the iseli Human Rights Group btselem, israel leveled 18 tents and sheds that housed 11 families as well as the villages kitchens, toets, livesck pens, wer ntainers, d two solar panels. The demolition occurred on tuday. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh accused israel of timing the demolition to take place when much of the world was focused on the u. S. Election accordg to the uted nations israel has destroyed nearly 700 structures in the west bank this year, displacing about 870 palestinians. In brazil, the eldest son of rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro has been charged with embezzlement and money laundering. The charges stem from flavio bolsonaros time as a congressman prior to his fathers election. Flavio is now a senator in brazil. The imprisoned saudi activist Loujain Alhathloul has begun her 12th day on a hunger strike. On thursday, a u. N. Committee expressed alarm over her physical and Mental Health and wellbeing and called on the saudi king to release her. Alhathloul was arrested in may 2018 after leading a movement to lift a ban on women drivers and to overhaul the male guardianship system in saudi arabia. The state department has informed congress of plans to sell 18 armed drones to the united arab emirates. The Trump Administration recently eased restrictions on exporting armed drones to ales. This comes despite a warning earlier this year from the United Nations that the world is entering a dangerous second drone age as more nations obtain armed drones that can be used for targeted killings outside of war zones. And in labor news, dairy workers in Washington State won a major victory thursday when the state Supreme Court ruled they are entitled to overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours a week. For decades farmworkers have been exempted from state and federal overtime laws. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman in new york with Juan Gonzalez in new brunswick, new jersey. Hi, juan. Juan hi, amy. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Amy we are starting with our top news as President Trump doubles down on unsubstantiated claims of election rigging, concern is growing that supporters of trump may begin using violence to disrupt the ectoral process. Trump addressed the nation thursday night from the white house, falsely claiming victory and accusing democrats of trying to steal the election. He offered no evidence to back up his claims. Pres. Trump we think theris going to be a lot of litigation because we have so much evidence, so much proof, and it is going to end up perhaps at the highest court in the land. We will see. But we think there will be a lot of litation because we cant have an election stolen like this. Abc, cbs, nbc, and msnbc all stopped airing trumps speech live because it was filled with lies about the election and the vote counting process. On thursday, the president s son donald trump, jr. Called for total war over this election. Trumps supporters have protested at ballotcounting locations in phoenix, las vegas, atlanta, detroit, and philadelphia where police have arrested two men after receiving a tip that men armed with ar15s were driving a hummer up from virginia to attack the Pennsylvania Convention center where votes are being counted. Police stopped the vehicle just north of the convention center. The hummer had several stickers connected to the protrump qanon conspiracy theory. Election Officials Say they are worried about the safety of their staff due to a spike in threats. This is joe gloria, the registrar in clark county, nevada, where votes are still being counted. I can tell you my wife and my mother are very concerned for me, but we have security here. We have Law Enforcement who are protecting us. I am concerned for the safety of my staff. Were putting measures into place to make sure we have the security that is necessary. Amy this comes as former trump advisor Sebastian Gorka used his show on Salem Radio Networks to network to protest how votes are being counted. Gorka left the white house in 2017 after reports emerged of his ties to a naziallied group and racist paramilitary militia while he served as a hungarian politician. This is what he said thursday. We need them to enforce the rule of law. And if the local bureaucrats prevent us from seeing the evidence, from seeing the legitimate vote, we need the u. S. Marshals to deploy and they need to break down the doors of those polling stations and stop the crimes being committed. It is that simple. Amy also on thursday, twitter moved to permanently ban President Trumps now indicted former Campaign Manager steve bannon from the platform after bannon called for the beheading of dr. Anthony fauci and fbi director christopher wray. Bannon made the comment on his podcast war room pandemic. Should these republican lawmakers in pennsylvania and elsewhere, if there is corruption and they dont abide by the law and they dont allow observers in as the law calls for, should they then invalidate this . I think every thing should be on the table, so there is the process of observing an election that is being violated. Philadelphia elections are as crooked as a snake. Amy that was South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham. Lets go to steve bannon. I would like to go back to the old times of tutor, england. I would put the heads on pikes. Would put them at the two corners of the white house as a warning to federal bureaucrats, either get with the program for you are gone. And because steve bannon is currently out on bail after being indicted for alleged fundraising fraud. All of this comes as the Trump Campaign has faced multiple setbacks in the courtroom and a Legal Advisor told foxbusiness they hope new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney barrett will help trump win the presidency if a case makes it to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the secret service is reportedly sending reinforcements to protect joe biden who good give a victory speech as early as today. For more, were joined by independent journalist allan nairn. Welcome back to democracy now can you summarize what has happened at this point . What you think is taking place and what will happen . Well, trump and the extremist republicans who constitute the minority of the population and have a minority of the votes are trying to consolidate their minority rule. They are aided in that by the u. S. Constitution and the structure of the u. S. System, which is against fundamentally in certain sense, as many barriers to majority rule. Fundamentally antidemocratic. Things would not even be close now if you just based presidency, like most countries to come on who gets the most votes. Bidens way had in the popular vote. Both parties expected that from the very beginning. They have a whole series of things they are trying to leverage, starting from the deep level, and in the midst of trying to sabotage the census to exclude as many nonwhites as they can. And therefore, make it easier for the republican state legislatures to further gerrymander and give their minority of supporters even more dominant representation in the u. S. Congress. In fact, the Election Results so far indicate the democratic establishment, led by Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi and others and the campaign committee, did not turn out enough democrats to take control of another state legislatures to turn the tide of this gerrymandering andedistrict during redistricting. So it is likely to get even worse. On covid, where trump has committed innocence criminally negligent homicide and has a stack approaching a quarter of a million bodies, victims, he cynically is leveraging that to attempted political advantage. He told his followers, dont worry about covid, go to the polling place, vote, it wont hurt you. He observed the democrats told their followers, no, covid can kill you. They simply stated the medical fact. Trump saw this and said, great. The democrats will vote by mail. I will sabotage the post office. And he did. Ballots that will not arrive in time. The second step trump is saying, ok, those mailed in votes that did arrive, invalidate them. Dont count them. Then republican lawyers will go to the courts hoping to eventually reach a tame federal judge that they have who will reach the now tame u. S. Supreme court and get them to say, yes, these votes should be invalidated. If that does not work, they are ready, as Lindsey Graham alluded to, to try to call on some republican state legislatures to simply ignore the popular vote in their states and send protrump electors, even if trump lost the popular vote in their state. In on the street level, aside from this indoor game of politics which they are playing very ruthlessly, they have their armed guys who trump has been cultivating from the start. The militias, the civilians who carry guns, the racist Police Unions who trump appeals to. And they first called on them to show up at the polling places. By the way, another aspect of the structural reading was over the years, republican legislatures and governors had been systematically reducing the number of polling places for voting in areas that tend to vote against trump. What courts have called surgical racebased targeting. But they were calling in the election for the wrong their own tough guys to show up at the polling places that did remain in me territory to try to themidate people away from polls. Now as the vote counting is in process, people like don jr. And bannon and gorka and trump himself, though not yet as explicitly as them, are essentially raising the prospect of staging physical assaults on vote counting facilities. Because as President Trump put it, any vote that is part of a tally that is not coming out in his favor should not be considered a legal vote. However, i think from having seen over many years and worked against u. S. Operations overseas led by operations operations led by special forces in the cia where they systematically try to disrupt work thwart elections, the most recent big one being in bolivia in 2019, that you have to be very strategic you have to get the timing right in the use of your street forces. I think on Election Night in the crucial hours after late Election Night when trump went into his tent and started sulking like a bully who had been thwarted, i think he may have missed his moment. Because that was the key moment to call his people on the streets and start stopping trashing the roads and he failed to do that. They are now playing catchup. At this moment, the political atmosphere is not right sufficiently favorable to them to give them a favorable chance of getting vote count stopped that they want stopped. A lot of this turns on political atmosphere stuff especially in the courts. For example, the only reason that obamacare still exists now even in the we can form is when it came to the Supreme Court seven years ago, Justice Roberts reject the republic attempt to repeal obamacare because he feared the public reaction. He feared the public backlash. Militantthe most radical rightist public and their ears up, their fingers to the wind. They are looking at what they can get away with. They will do whatever they think they can get away with. If they think they cant get away with something, they wont do it. This leads to the issue of the senate. The senate, if biden becomes , manages to take the white house because yet the majority of the electoral votes, the Senate Control becomes absolutely crucial. If the democrats failed to control the senate, mcconnell will try to act in essence as copresident and the radical rightist Supreme Court, out the 63 majority vote with barrett, will feel emboldened, licensed to do anything because they want to be facing the constraint of possible legislation which you can have with the Democratic Senate that might expand the number of justices or might implement term limits for justices as representative ro khanna and others have proposed. And they want to be facing the prospect of any new biden replacement judges in case someone leaves who might be oppositional or mcconnell could even decide to block biden from putting in any federal judges whatsoever. So this could let the republican Supreme Court completely off the leash. And they could go about the dating invalidating basic tenets of civil rights, voting rights, democracy that still exists in the United States. We are at a point of epic struggle right now and of great plasticity. Things could move radically in one direction or radically in the other direction. And i think people have to be very alert and also very selfdiscipline. Because one of the tools they already used over the summer in the Racial Justice demonstrations and the demonstrations against police brutality, is deliberate provocation by the extreme right to try to create scenes of looting and senseless violence that can then be used as an argument for even stricter authoritarianism and racism and nullification of democracy, and we cannot allow that to happen. Just want to ask you briefly, you were talking about the issue of the popular vote and the structural and equities built into the system and equities built into the system. The margin for joe biden is likely to be much greater in the popular vote that it is right now because most people are focusing on arizona, obviously, pennsylvania, and georgia, but these states are much more advanced in their count and are a lot of the blue states. California, new york, new jersey have millions of votes that they have not yet counted. No one is paying attention because those states have already turned blue. But when the final vote total comes in, it is very likely that joe biden may have about an 8 million to 10 million margin in the popular vote, which i think will bring more interleave. Into really. The structural problems the majority of the American People are not deciding these president ial elections. As you are saying, the possibility for structural change will be even less now given the fact that republicans control the senate. Have you see progressives moving forward to affect these structural changes in the future . Structural aspects could get even worse wh the result of this election. In most countries around the world, even those that have democracies that are not very strong, direct popular president ial vote is the way it is done. The u. S. Electoral College System is rather unique. And the founders engineer it that way because they did not trust the majority. Which made sense for them because at the time of the founding, the majority was either disenfranchised and or enslaved. But we a still burdened with that system today. It is that is electoral psalmist is, the senate structures even more undemocratic because it gives two senators to each state regardless of population. So again, while people are now fighting over who wins the Electoral College and are now nailbiting over who will control thsenate come at the senate are allocated on some kind of ces a polar vote aga, it would t be clo. It would be an orwhelmgly Democratic Senate reflecting the clear majority of the united butes residents andoters, it is engineered in the opposite direction. Probably tracing back to the founders and partly tracing back to the structural changes that republicans have made especially since around 1980 at the time of the rise of reagan and at the time of the rise in washington of the radical republican lobby funded by various industries, and then in later years by figures like the koch others where they systematically set about trying to reengineer state legislatures and state voting rules around the country. I think activists were on the right track in setting out an agenda, a possible agenda for the coming year at the democrats got the presidency and the senate to push for all sorts of structural changes. But now that could be block at the republicans, by their fingertips, hold on to the senate. I think it is not clear yet exactly what tactics will be most effective in changing that reality. One of the tactics i think will have to be within the Democratic Party to try to move out of power the corporate democrats who spent about 1 billion on this campaign on things like senate races that they could have one that the polls said they were going to win easily and they actually lost, thereby opening the door to mcconnell, in effect, presidency. This corporate democrats ended up making lots of extremely rich, but they did not flip the votes. Amy we want to thank you for being with us, allan nairn, independent journalist. Next come Union Organizer Jane Mcalevey on her firsthand experience of what went wrong in the 2000 foot recount and what she says needs to happen now to stop what she calls an electoral coup. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman with Juan Gonzalez. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman with Juan Gonzalez. As we continue to look at Donald Trumps attempt to still u. S. President ial election, how he can be stopped. We have been speaking with independent journalist allan nairn. I want to bring in Jane Mcalevey , Union Organizer, negotiator, and scholar, currently a senior policy fellow at uc berkeleys labor center. Publish part of her firsthand account and a florida in 2000 and its lessons for today. Interview is headlined prepared to hit the streets after election day. Shes the author of several books, including a collective bargain unions, organizing and the fight for democracy. Thank you so much for being with us. Why dont you lay out what youre sayingow and what you feel nee to be done. Good morning. Thank you for having me. In florida, i was among the first people to land in florida, like literally the nt morning at 6 00 a. M. , and one of the last people to leave. I spent an incredible amount of time on the ground in florida in 2000. Experience and alec twled coup. Al gore did when florida. Consequences of that decision were sll paying for. E parallels that are nerveracking from my viewpoint are the followin one, what we hear from we hope president elect biden is a lot of theame sort ocommentary that we heard from al gore stay calm, the process is working. There is any overinvestment in thedea of counting and the legal process. That was an error of judgment in a ptty profound w in florida in 2000. People like myself and many other trade you can isers dish Union Organizers who were there to try t defend thvotes of working people in florida understood within 24 hours of being in florida that we needed nonviolenc let me stress that, nonviolent peaceful, direct action inarge numbers both inlorida f surback in 20, but also around the country. We needed it because we understood that the conservatives, t right wing, were going to frame a narrative that it was al gore who was trying totill the election versus bush. Ofourse, we did not have to wait for election dayecause trump has been sayg this for the month and half leading up to eltion day. So he has been forecasting every single thing he is doing right now. On the one han to say stay calm the process is working, we should stay calm. Secondly, as allan nairn was just describing, the nature of this process is confusing to the average voter. Part of why i think people need to be engaged in very large, very peaceful, very nonviolent hope safe andradeunion led demonsations this weekend all across the United States, is because we have to have counter narrative. We have to have very large numbers of people in the streets saying, hang on, right now biden is nearly 4 million ahead and you will be more like 8 million one the fal statecome in. There is no question the popular vote is massively favoring biden. The popular vote was favoring the candidate in florida in 2000. To me, as someone who was on the ground in florida i was disagreeing pretty wildly with the gore lawyers and m employers, which was the national aflcio, and saying it was one thing for the Democratic Party to behave in a way that trusd counti and lal process, but if you are a Union Organizer which i am and i have experienced one election after anher where the employer cheats and Voter Suppression is rampant and massive in a way that it is now in the United States in this president ial election, we understand narrative creation matters. We understand that legal cases are not madin a vacuum, which allan nairn was also signed. I want to really emphasize this. You, forant to ask those many of our listeners and viewers who were youngsters probably back in 2000, people dont understand even back then, there was a mobilization by the supporters of president bush in the streets outside a lot of these counting places and quite a bit of intimidation that occurred. Could you talk about what was happening on the ground when you were there . It was absolutely intense and violent. I think youre right that the reason i have been writing and talking about florida right n is i experienced violence. I was followed and chased by people called christian militants. I wrote a lot about this. I was followed. I had a security detail because i became the lead 1 increasing counter in miamidade, this really crucial moment because the bush people understood we had open counting in palm beach and broward. I was involved in all of those counts. What is called the 1 precinct threshold, where the vionce really got intense, was the republics understood the bush teamnderstood at if we open up the recount in miamidade, there were a lot of votes back in Network Training absolutely democratic and would cookware over the top. I was sent there as e or two people in the enre United States, e 1 precinct counter. It was at thatoment i began to seriously experience the violence comes in intimidation. We were being brought in in vans. They were shade dark so no one could see us. There was huge personal security for the counters themselves, myself included. Beyond someone who is used to standing up to normal violence in unionization campaigns, this was unprecedented imy life experience. I was 36 years old. It was unbelievably nerverackg. I was walking up the stairs when the Brooks Brothers riot was conducted by the right wing. We know now the Brooks Brothers republican staffers dressed up in nice suits. Began throwing tles in miamidade as soon as the captain got serious because they needed a way to disrupt the counting process. It was violent. It was totallyntense. Part ofhat counters and all of these places where there counting right now and governors and republican legislatures and Everyone Needs to see is that we have one this election once not going our site is to let them steal it. We needed biggest organize forces that know how to run nonvlent large violent peopleeaceful to get into the streets so we dont have a vacuum being created, which is happening right now we have the little skirmishes going on. Little skirmishes are not going to help us, by the way. We need thingshat look as large as the lims march, the climate march in a new york city several years ago, by ordinary people so the democratic governors who are in the three states that ve to certify these electors certify the right people and certify the election correctly. There is so much going on. I would say one more thg. There is a lot of people, ordinary people who dont follow the insnnounce who are sitting at home right now, work very hard, wrote millions of letters, said text messages, phone banks, did a ton of work to drag joe biden over the finish line. All of thipeople nd a way to experience and demand they have won this election in the streets. We need to practice governing power because to move a joe biden, assuming we can stop the Supreme Court from acting as they did in florida, we are going to need governing power. That will mean a lot of those same voters need to practice what it means to intervene right now to save this election from going back to trump. Nonviolence, direct action is essential. The counters need support. The democratic governors and the Supreme Court need to see it. The Supreme Court does not act in a vacuum. Amy Jane Mcalevey, thank you for being with us, Union Organizer, negotiator, and scholar, currently a senior policy fellow at uc berkeleys labor center. When we come back, we go to georgia that has just flipped from red to blue. Stay with us. [music break] amy georgia on my mind by ray charles. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman with Juan Gonzalez. We go now to georgia, where joe biden has pulled ahead of donald trump for the first time in an extraordinarily tight race for georgias electoral votes. 16 with more than 98 reporting, biden leads by a little more than 900,000 votes. Election officials estimate between 5000 to 10,000 votes remain to be counted. On thursday, the implementation manager Gabriel Sterling said a president ial recount is more than likely. He responded to a reporters question about election fairness and allegations of a rigged system. If there werenk going to rig something, it might be less close on this. We have 159 dedicated staff working to get this right. Theyre working diligently every single day. We know how many requests came in for absentee ballots. We know how many were received. So nobody gets on the show up with 100,000 extra ballots somewhere. In this state, we take security very seriously. We will have a recount for president more than likely and people will see those outcomes stay essentially the same. Amy many are crediting the blueshift to Stacey Abrams who lost a hotly contested race for governor of georgia in 2018 and claims of widespread Voter Suppression. She has since been getting out the vote in georgia with her Organization Fair fight. For more we go to Atlanta Georgia where were joined by anoa changa, freelance journalist based in atlanta covering electoral justice and voting rights. George is turning everything on its head. You have trump alleging fraud saying where he was ahead and now behind is not all democrat run states. Georgia is run by republican governor, republican secretary of state. A whole republican infrastructure and it has now flipped blue. Yet the two senate races that could well go to a runoff and they could determine the balance of the senate. Talk about the significance of what is happening in georgia right now. Thank you so much for making time for us to talk about what is happening in georgia and ridiculous claims coming from the current president of the United States about fraud, which has been debunked time and time again. As you pointed out, brian kemp and are actually republicans and have been in control of the state of georgia for the last 10 years. Brian kemp also priebus this crucially serving as secretary of state. What were saying right now is the continuation of work with Stacey Abrams and fair fight but also organizations like the new georgia project [indiscernible] mattero have like voters , the peoples agenda. So many organizations. There has been a White Investment to expand the electorate and also recognize the coalition of black, latinx, and other voters, progressive voters, young voters, shift georgia to a state that actually respected all people regardless of the citizenship status, regardless of income, etc. , and bring about opportunity for change. Aat were seeing right now is culmination of several years of the work of any georgians to reset the state back from where it has been under the control of centrist moderate what leadership that lost the state in 2010. A, while the focus has been on the president ial race and the u. S. Senate races, there been quite a few changes in down ballot races. Could you talk about what is happening in some of the sheriff races as well . Right here in the metro area, we just sell two candidates for sheriff in cobb county and gwinnett county, part of the longterm work that is being pushed that fpped to sheriffs that do not support participation in 287 g, yet new sheriff coming in who are willing to withdraw support from the 287 g program that is a Cooperation Agreement between Law Enforcement and ice. That has been a major victory, months some other issues come around to and racial profiling that latinx, like organizers have been working on around the state. We also saw deborah gonzalez, candidate for da, go into a runoff. She had to sue the state multiple times for her race to even happen as it was canceled previously to allow appointed positions [indiscernible] we also saw Jackie Johnson who keep the killersd to of Ahmaud Arbery out of jail. We are seeing a shif in the House District races as well. There has been a lot happening across the state. Has been aot. It is a testament to the grassroots organizing happening. Some of it in line with the democratic already and some has been most has been outside of Traditional Party politics, traditional candidates. Amy and these two senate races, the significance i mean, if you have both senate races go to a runoff in january, the whole country and possibly a call for a recount if it is really razor thin between joe biden and President Trump, the entire country will be turning to georgia, to say the least. Here inwe have known georgia, what we have seen work oftrusting in the local organizers and looking at the numbers on the map in terms are,o the new voters people have been doing organizing work in southwest georgia despite hurricanes and other incidences. So folks know these senate seats are not just important to georgia in terms of being able to flip them, but in terms of the balance of power of the whole nation and the senate. [indiscernible] about the whole south. We have seen amazing victories across the south. Deep organizing happing across the region. We know we need a fundamental reimagining of how we engage in politics in this country as well as how we examine and talk about different states, whether were talking about rule voters or rural voters or red versus blue states. Seen proof of concept or everyone else to understand what we know to be true here in georgia, we would look at Mississippi Mississippi voters overturning jim crow that had its own version of Electoral College that prevented people of color to ever when statewide, see in alamance county, north just, recently elected its first latino to the statehouse, we have seen amazing efforts [indiscernible] it cant just be aligned with whether or not people are going to build up the backbone of the Democratic Party. It has to be grounded in the peoples interest and what is for the greater good and really putting democracy back in the center of all of our focus and not worrying about paying attention to both sides the socalled objectivity. Amy anoa changa, thank you for being with us, freelance journalist based in atlanta, georgia, covering electoral justice and voting rights. This just in, we have these reports that are coming in from pennsylvania, joe biden has just taken a narrow lead in pennsylvania by more than 5000 votes. Again, has flipped pennsylvania by more than 5000 votes. There are still tens of thousands of votes to be counted. We ended today show looking at tuesdays election in puerto rico where voters narrowly a nonbinding statehood referendum and ected afropuerto rican human rights, feminist and lgbtqi activist ana irma rivera ssen who s just ected to the puerto rican senate. Her victory came month after she was mocked. She spoke with democracy now i am anit means is that openly lgbtqi president i was the blackoman. This is evidence of the need to recognize the complexity of the discriminationhat some of us may face. Received messages of joy from many people, women, afro descendents, lg g the dish lg of puerto rico that represents all of us. In the building of a more inclusive country might push for sustainable economic development, search r solution on our stas as he was, to be a untry that is not just divided on what our status should be but a cotry that focuses on the inclusion to dendeoples human rits and t basic neceities for r people tt the rter can government must respect and guarantee. We have to approh this tough a lensf inclusio th the pueo rican ople set in the summer of 19 is they want transparency. They do not wanthe two politica parties that ha bn alternating power in puerto ri. I think this bipartisan dictatorip is over and pple have selected candidates from diverse Political Parties to make up the legislative body. The puerto ricaneople are still in per and 80 since they have not let go of this is the moment they took to the streets. They still have the power. Amy that is ana irma rivera lassen. , you have closely been following what is happening in puerto rico, your own birthplace. Can you talk about the latest news . Juan while millions in the u. S. Have been mesmerized with the vote counting for president here, puerto rico has had its own election on tuesday that also produced a close race and historic results but in a very different way. Puerto ricancannot cast ballots for president and do not have any representatives in congress, even though they are u. S. Citizens because the island remains at colonial territory. They do vote every four years for the own government. This year they also put it in a controversial referendum for the islands future. Turnout,e u. S. Voter they saw in alltime low turnout, just 51 of eligible voters compared to theevels that used to be just a decade ago around 80 . The plummeting turnout is no doubt due to discussed by many voters with the continue corruption of the two dominant Political Parties, the prostatehood Progressive Party and procommonwealth popular Democratic Party. But it is also likely due to the fact elected officials in puerto rico these days have little real power. Since coress imposed an outside financial control board more than four years ago. What happened . First the referendum was controversial because unlike several status votes in the past, he gave only a choice of one status. It asked a yes or no vote on statehood for puerto rico. Voters had to choose the current status or the control board sorry, the im control board colony or statehood. It was a rigged referendum with no choice of independence for the current commonwealth or even free association. It because it was scheduled during regular election, many voters were going to the polls anyway and statehood ended up with about 52 of the vote. No one expects congress to grant statehood even though an increasing number of democrats and Billionaire Hedge Fund types are pressing for statehood as a way to increase potential democratic votes under the u. S. House and senate. The truly historic change came inhe regular election amy 10 seconds. Juan voters deserted the dinosaur duopoly of the pro statehood and procommonwealth parties that has alternated in power in puerto rico for the last 60 years most of america have to leave it there. Juan ended up grabbing one third of the votes cast, pro statehood Progressive Party john amy we this is al jazeera. Hello. This is the newshour. An intense wait for an election result. Confidence is building among joe biden supporters as he inches closer to the white house expanding his narrow leaer