Transcripts For ALJAZAM Real Money With Ali Velshi 20150311

Bob mcculloch speaks in an interview since the department of justice issued a skating report. Im ali velshi this is real money. Its a new day in ferguson, missouri, 24 hours after the States Supreme Court moved in to take over the local Municipal Court to implement needed reforms. The same Court Blasted by federal investigators in a report that came out last week. The department of justice accused of it being a profitdriven court system. Investigators highlighted ou the local judge and court clerk worked in collusion with ferguson and the city council to target africanamericans with petty fines and rest. The local judge and the court clerk resigned. The city of ferguson depended on revenues from the fines and fees to generate 3. 1 million that fiscal year, or a quarter of the budget. Investigators say the revenues relied on overt acts of profiling and bigotry by police who targeted the blacks, and they had to contend with the court that threatened with gaol time if they didnt pay up. It was that atmosphere that poisoned relations with fergusons black community, and its in that atmosphere that the death of Michael Brown would stop days of protest and violence. More protests erupted three months later when a local grand jury declined to indict Police Officer Darren Wilson. It put the spotlight on bob mccullough, and he was accused of bias. The department of justice agreed with his findings saying Darren Wilson shot brown in defense. We sat with mccullough yesterday, the first time he has spoken to the National Media since the department issued reports . I have avoided talking to allow, not because im concerned about the media, but a big part department. The d. O. J. Report sides with you, that he never said hands up, dont shoot. Do you feel vindicated . I never felt incriminated. There was no need to feel vindicated. We knew the department of justice had what we had. Other than a witness that popped up in midfebruary. There was nothing in their report that wasnt in their hands on november 24th, when they came out with that finding, it was not a surprise. It would have been helpful to have it earlier than 100 days when the grand jury heard the determination. It may not have eliminated the beens we had that night. It may not have held them down. It couldnt have hurt. I cant come up with a ran why it would take 100 days to do it. Ball. I think it made more sense to them to combine the two. When we were talking with residents, many who this not read the d. O. J. Report said without it being released. They felt like there was something in the air that had made them believe one Say Something would happen, Michael Brown would be shot. I didnt necessarily feel that. We are always concerned that therell be a confrontation with an a traumatic result. That happens. The initial misconception that mr brown was down on his knees with hands in the air when executed by the Police Officer, that was the story that went out. Theres nothing from credible witnesses or the physical evidence that supports that. During the protests so many chanted hands up recollects dont shoot. If it didnt come from Michael Brown, where did it come from. I think it was kind of combined. I think this case illustrated the power of social media. During the height of it, they were taking ages bringing changing things about your fathers death. How did you respond and make sense of it . I made no sense, i kapt. There was a quantum leap made from the fact that my father was a Police Officer killed in the line of duty 50 years ago by a black man. The quantum leap was that i could not be fair, with nothing in between to back it up and everything refuting that. Officers. Do you think that in some way departments in the st. Louis area, including ferguson need to change in response to what happened to Michael Brown . Well, i think, you know, everybody does, and everything does. We know, and have known, of course, that with the fragmentation of the community that we have. We have some departments that are good. Some that are not good. We need its a resource problem. Its not that there are not dedicated cops in it. Im not naive enough to think theres never been a situation. Theres never been anybody profiled. When it occurs. It has to be eliminated. It goes both ways. Its in some areas. Parts of the world, probably. It may become engrained. Some of the police thinking theres a reaction with the black guys. I have to be wary. They have interaction with the police. There has to be some work done. If you pay a terrible wage. Instances. Its funny that you mention you get what you pay for. I see the money. A lot of what it going on it routes to the fact that the city needs money. It was pegged. It was up to how many citations was oushed. They are issues that need to be discussed. I had spoken out before on the municipalities, we knew about that. The red light cameras were nothing but a money grab. Municipalities say wra are we getting the money. Correct. Thats where they are stopping the inquiry. The question should be if we cant provide the basic services for our citizens, then we shouldnt be a municipality. We need to combine services or dissolve or merge and another or do something. We go on like this, and you cant raise money in ways not appropriate. So a situation like ferguson, if they realise when they make the reform, that it happens, that they are not making money, would a plausible option be to cease as a municipality. Its an option. We tried to do it recently, and now, thats why i said the political will might be there to change the law to make it im glad that conversation wept where it did, because in the end after we deal cops and blacks and all of that, we have a problem repeating over and over. Not just missouri, and the united states, hamlets, villages and places luke that. Municipalities places like that. Municipalities that find creative ways, how big a problem is this. Now in missouri theres 90 municipalities, half are struggling with debt. This is critical. Like people, if governments cant play the bills they do desperate things, the option as you heard is death. The city could dissolve. What is the opposition. The opposition, i would assume in missouri is similar to what it is in small towns and villages and hachllets across pennsylvania or kentucky or texas, wherever it may be. Why do the unsustainable municipalities insist on existing. Theres a lot at play. If you have an exclusive neighbourhood. You may want your own Police Department. They say if municipalities cease to exist. We will only place if necessary. If theres a vipt crime and offense, if you want quality of that. From ferguson missouri, having their own police force is a neg ty quality of life. Theres few whites on the police force. Many are calling for reform, department. Tomorrow night more from bob mcculloughs First National televised interview since the scathing report was released. Lets have a look. We are al jazeera, we reach a global audience, hundreds of millions of households. The world is closely listening to everything you say. They want to know what does ferguson say about america . Well, i i think well have to wait until really some time passes as you do with any major event, so they can look at things objectively, and see exactly what did occur, and what happened, and when peel can sit and people can sit and talk rationally and civilly, then you can make a better assessment as here. We have more coming up from ferguson. We hear first hand from victims of a court system to put money before justice. These are what they get. Earlier you heard st. Louis prosecutor bob mcculloughs reaction to the Justice Department report on the Police Officer Darren Wilson. Now i want to shift focus to how the people of ferguson responded to the scathing report about racism in the citys Police Department, and Municipal Court system. We spoke to dozens of people on the ground in ferguson, leadership local and statewide. They said the same thing its time to stop making money off the backs of citizens. And gave him seven tickets. These are the tickets. George and kim are longtime ferguson residents saying one police stop in 2012 for improper plates resulted in seven tickets. Seven tickets. Gave. Its not that alan didnt have it coming. His car was not registered, he didnt have a drivers licence, a kid was not buckled off. Off . Of course not. Thats why i dont go to court. Reporter the department of justices report shows how aggressively the police and Municipal Court works to general fines through fees, fees that americans. They are pulled over. If you look for something, youll find something. They report the fines and tickets collected by the court, it Rose Steadily since 2010 in direct relation to the increase budget. Topping out at an submitted 2. 6 million in fines alone. In 2014 a common refrain. Built during the unrest and protests. Backs. If the fines were to build a building, it would be do we need the building. Missouri state representative grew up in ferguson, and lives here now. He said ferguson has plenty of revenue without aggressive policing and faping. Ferguson is a large municipality. Id say they are top 25. It has guaranteed revenue of millions of dollars, not because of fines and such. Curtis says he pushes for amnesty of anyone stopped without cause. Every time a resident doesnt appear in court, 100 was added to the tab, an arrest werent and suspension of licence. There were 9,000 arrest warrants issued, applying to 33,000 different offenses. And in ferguson warrants are issued without the opportunity for res bents to explain if the early. It would open a file, and ticket. What should have been 100 pucks, now this person will owe close to 1,000. This is a municipal judge, 10 minutes from ferguson. He is running for city council in ferguson, and says there are ways to alleviate the fines. In our court, as a broad Amnesty Programme is we started dismissing all of them. Africanamerican leadership in missouri agrees. Police shot spend their time on larger issues. I would think the Police Department would feel their work is better used as building at relationship with the community, and dealing with Violent Crime verses taking time out, laying out. Having a broken windshield writer. The department of justice is pushing to fix ferguson. Between police and residents. That may take a while. A good look. Some people have a hatred for police. All this stuff was starting to be uncovered. Youll have a lot of barbecues and buddies. People on ferguson missouri are fighting back for votes. Look around you we are not going back to business as usual. Its not going to happen. Tomorrow on real money. Next the state hit as hard as the country by the ravages of Climate Change. Debating who would use the term. Whats the end change for Climate Change skeptics. Ill talk to one discipline. Thats what i wanna hear. Strength. Give me all you got. Respect. Now. Bootcamp stop youre whining. For bad kids. They get a little dirty. So what. Dangerous. We have shackles with spit bag. Theyre still having nightmares if you cant straighten out your kids. Theyre mine Al Jazeera America presents camp last resort on Al Jazeera America this is the true definition of tough love in 2 minutes. An investigative report claims that Florida Governor rick scott does not like the term Climate Change and banned its use in official documents. He denied the allegation but is open about cleaning a change denier. Lately he adopted the hedge im not a scientist. He showed the majority of americans believe Climate Change is real. The debate for keptsceptics is not about whether the arth is thing. My next guest is from a conservative think tank known for its skepticism on Climate Change. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me on. You are not a Climate Change denier. I dont think there are many Climate Change deniers. No, im not. You do question, though, whether or not or what role humankind has had in the in Climate Change as it stands now, crisis. I dont think the human causation issue is important. If you look at the context of temperatures, we are cold when you compare temperatures over 6,000 years. They are warm compared to the ice age. So the real issue is are we causing so much Global Warming that one, its unprecedented and is causing a crisis. The answer to growth is no. Most are comparing it to the world we live in, a built environment since the industrial age. We are not locking at compared to 6,000 or 7,000 years ago. Can we go forward and live in rising . We know we can. 3,000, 4,000 years ago temperatures were today. Its different. Population james. You asked me a question, i want to answer it. We dont look the way we did 6,000 ways we did, we dont have population density that we did 6,000 or 7,000 years ago. Telling me what happened then is not relevant to the world in which we live today. I disagree. 6,000, 7,000 years ago we didnt have 1 of the technologies we had today, we did well, better than during subsequent cold periods. When temperatures have been warmer, thats when human health and welfare benefitted. There no reason to suspect cold temperatures, abnormally temperatures will be better. They never have been. Lets talk about lets be clear on this. We are seeing ocean levels rise, the others temperature get warmer. You say its not a bad thing. No, we are colder than we have been. Can we agree to not worry about that. But worry about the fact from where we are. I think its important. Point. It. They should. Relevant to the society that we have built today, and the population density and the places we live, we are aspected by an increase in sea level or temperature, you are not suggesting that is something we should be worried about. No. Lets talk about the 250 years, thats what we are familiar with. Lets talk about the temperatures, we see crop yields setting records, theres a greening of the other. Deserts are shrinking. As far as see level rise, its been occurring. Last century, we were able to manage well. With 21st century technologies, it is better. Global temperatures rose, 6. 7 earlier. Gloeg Sea Level Rise has occurred in the same pace as in the past. Weve dealt with it before. Theres technologies to deal with it. And more important than that, if you are talking about a few numbers of of Sea Level Rise id point to the fact that we have substantially greater Crop Production than 3040 years ago. Greater soil moisture, a decline in droughts, and conditions for human health and welfare. This is something that needs to be covered. Scientists say dont worry about temperatures, its causing a rise in sea lels. I dont see much of harm, it hasnt caused harm in the past. The benefits outweigh it. Better grap production, better yelds. We see greater hoisture. A declining drought. These are benefits that you cant see existing. Everything im asking about. You say dont focus on one little think. Im talking about temperatures organizations about n. A. S. A. And noah. You used models to be accurate. Its only when they add cot that 2 explains recent Global Warming. The co 2 emissions are having an influence on global climate. Scientists at n. A. S. A. Say many. Poor trade catastrophes and negative side effects are not occurring. When they say to look at the models, 95 of models predicted warming. Lets look at the realworld temperatures, we can look at a modern pace and be within the texture change. This is not unprecedented temperature range, it is the raping that human flourishes. These are organizations that said Global Warming has a detrimental affect on climate. The American Geophysical uniton. Geological society of america, National Academy of science. And others. You wrote that this is an idea that liberals put forward because the solution before the crisis is for regulation and the types of things that liberals like. Youre arguing that reverse engineering suits the needs. There are many Scientific Organization points out the evidence. Russian academy of the science, polish academy of science, Danish National space center. They have scientists casting doubt. Im glad you brought up a National Academy of science. For their report, they have 23 people produce report. Of those 23, only five had ph. D. S, just as many, five were staffers were environmental activist groups, two politicians, another was with the client administrations epa. You have 23 people, now with a background much the National Academy of science says this. No, they dont. Lets continue the conversation. Good to have you on the though. A senior fell j for environment and sec nollie. That is the show for today. Im ali velshi, thank you for joining us. Studying deadly viruses. These facilities are incredibly safe, incredibly secure. Go inside the study of infectious diseases. Ventilated footy pajamas. Protecting those working to protect us. We always have to stay one step ahead of them because theyre out there. Techknows team of experts show you how the miracles of science. This is my selfie, what can you tell me about my future . Can affect and surprise us. Dont try this at home. Techknow where Technology Meets humanity. Only on Al Jazeera America. Hi, im lisa fletcher. Female genital mutilation and cutting is illegal in the united states. Safe. A travelling tradition is in place in africa and the middle east its impacted half a million in the u. S. And more than 130 million women worldwide, its a difficult topic, but an immigrant from gambia who endured it travels here to talk to me about it