Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20170525

Transferred where President Trump says duterte is doing an unbelievable job on the drug program. We will speak also with Glenn Greenwald about how the Media Coverage of the Manchester Bombing victims should be a model for all young victims of war from yemen to afghanistan. Plus, we will speak to toronto activist and journalist desmond cole. I think what was revealed is a certain naivete where we ignore very obvious problems of racial discrimination. We want to tell ourselves that it is not happening here and we especially want to tell ourselves we are not the United States of america. Amy up until recently, desmond cole was a columnist at the toronto star. Its editors told him he had to choose between being a journalist or a black lives matter activist. He decided to stop writing his column. All of that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting from toronto, canada. In new revelations about possible collusion between the Trump Campaign and alleged russian efforts to influence the 2016 election, the New York Times is reporting that u. S. Sponsored senior russian political and intelligence discussing ways to use thenTrump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort and trump adviser Michael Flynn in order to exert influence over donald trump himself. In the alleged conversations last summer, the russian officials reportedly bragged about their close ties to Michael Flynn, as well as to former ukrainian president viktor yanukovych, who has worked closely with manafort. It is not known whether russian officials ever actually tried to influence manafort or flynn or, if so, whether they were successful. Meanwhile, the Washington Post is reporting former fbi director james comey may have been influenced by a fake russian intelligence document when he decided to publicly denounce Hillary Clintons handling of emails as extremely careless in july. Officials say the secret russian intelligence document claimed thenattorney general Loretta Lynch had assured the Clinton Campaign the fbi would not probe too deeply into clintons use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. The post reports comey relied on that document when he took the extraordinary step of announcing without Justice Department involvement that, although the fbi investigation was over, he found clintons conduct to be extremely careless. Officials now say the fbi itself had suspected the document was was bad intelligence or even fake. Cnn is reporting Jeff Sessions did not reveal his two meetings last with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak when he applied for security glances as attorney general. These are the same meanings he failed to disclose in his confirmation hearing. The Congressional Budget Office says the new Republican Health care plan would cause 23 Million People to lose their health care by 2026. The plan narrowly passed the house early this month. Its not clear whether the bill will pass the senate. This is new York Democratic senator chuck schumer. The report makes clear trumpcare would be a cancer on the American Health care system, causing costs to skyrocket, making coverage unaffordable for those with preexisting , and many seniors, and kicking millions off their health insurance. Unless you are a healthy millionaire, trumpcare is a nightmare. Amy President Trump was greeted , and manyby 9000 angry proteste arrived in belgium wednesday, as part of his first foreign trip as president. Last year, trump sparked outrage when he described brussels as a hellhole because it had welcomed so many immigrants and refugees. This is protester anne tonglet. Trump is a great example he was to destroy the planet and destroy people. We are not insignificant. Where not enough percent of the planet against one person billionaires, the only ones that trump represents. Amy in brussels, trump will be attending his first nato summit today. In news on yemen, the Human Rights Group reprieve says u. S. Navy seals killed five civilians during a raid tuesday night on a village in marib governorate. The pentagon says the raid targeted al qaeda, and that seven militants were killed. But residents of the village say the navy seals actually shot and a 70yearold civilian, a partially blind civilian who had come out of his house during the raid to see what was going on. At the sound of gunfire, four more civilians reportedly came out of their houses, only to be gunned down by the seals. Reprieve says another six civilians were injured, including an elderly man. This comes after navy seals killed up to 25 civilians, including nine children, during a botched raid in yemen in january that also left one navy seal dead. Meanwhile, in more news on yemen, nearly 400 people have now died in a spiraling cholera outbreak as the u. S. Backed, saudiled Bombing Campaign has devastated the countrys health, water, sewage and sanitation , systems. In brazil, president michel temer has authorized the deployment of the army to the capital brasilia amid growing protests demanding the president s ouster. On wednesday, tens of thousands of protesters marched to congress to demand temers resignation. Some demonstrators also torched a ministry building. Multiple protesters were injured as Police Attacked them with tear gas, stun grenades and , rubbercoated steel bullets. Temer is facing mounting calls to resign or be impeached following explosive testimony released by the Supreme Court accusing him of accepting millions of dollars in bribes since 2010. Well have more on brazil later in the broadcast with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist glenn in rio de who lives janeiro. Shocking new details have come to light about how the u. S. Drug Enforcement Administration tried to cover up its role in the killing of four civilians in honduras in 2012. For years, the dea claimed they were assisting honduran authorities in a raid that killed four drug smugglers near the village of ahuas. This was the story the dea told congress, the Justice Department , and the public. But a scathing new report by the inspectors general of the justice and state departments says the dea repeatedly lied about key aspects of the raid. The victims were not drug , and the public. Smugglers but civilians luding two pregnant women traveling on a water taxi. In addition the report says the dea falsely claimed that honduran Law Enforcement had led the operation, when in fact it was led by the dea. The agents were part of a nowshuttered task force known as the foreigndeployed advisory support team, or fast, which was trained in militarystyle antidrug raids. Vermont senator Patrick Leahy said the report unmasks egregious events and conduct, as well as the subsequent efforts to hide the truth about what happened. British officials are accusing the United States of leaking to the news media details about the investigation into mondays suicide bombing in manchester, which killed 22 people. The Officials Say theyll no longer share information with the u. S. After u. S. Law enforcement agencies released information and pictures about the investigation before british agencies did so. U. K. Prime minister theresa may says shell raise the issue when she meets with President Trump today during a nato summit in brussels. The leaks come as british authorities have arrested a total of eight men suspected of being connected to the attack, including suspected bomber Salman Abedis brother, ismail. Abedi was a 22yearold british man whose parents emigrated from libya. Abedis brother hashem and his father have also been arrested by special forces in libya. The Italian Coast Guard says at least 34 refugees, including many small toddlers, have died after their boat capsized off the coast of libya wednesday as the refugees were trying to reach europe. Their deaths come as a new report says as many as 6. 6 Million People are waiting in countries around the mediterranean hoping to emigrate to europe. Back in the United States and montana, republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte has been charged with assault after he body slammed a guardian reporter to the floor wednesday night only hours before polls open for the special election today. Gianforte, a tech millionaire who is backed by trump, attacked guardian reporter ben jacobs as jacobs was trying to ask about the Republican Healthcare plan. This is audio jacobs captured of the incident. I will talk to you about that later. Theres not going to be time i am sick and tired of you guys. The last guy who came in here to the same thing. Get the hell out of here. The last guy did the same thing. Are you with the guardian . Yes. You just broke my glasses. You just ought he slammed me and broke my glasses. Amy that was reporter ben jacobs being attacked by montana congressional candidate Greg Gianforte wednesday night. Voters are now heading to the polls to decide between gianforte and democratic candidate rob quist to fill montanas atlarge house seat, which was vacated by now interior secretary ryan zinke. The 10 million closely watched race is seen as a referendum on the trump administration. Close to 70 of the people in montana have already voted in the congressional race. And protests against corporate Shareholder Meetings continued wednesday. Inhicago, crowds of baggage handlers, janitors, cabin cleaners, and Security Officers rallied outside the United Airlines Shareholder Meeting demanding higher wages and better working conditions. Inside the meeting, united Ceo Oscar Munoz was grilled by shareholders over the violent removal of a doctor who suffered a concussion, broken nose and , lost teeth after he was dragged semiconscious off a refusing to be involuntarily rebooked from a flight. Meanwhile, in the chicago suburb of oak park, hundreds of fast food workers protested outside the mcdonalds Shareholder Meeting to demand the minimum wage be raised to 15 an hour. This is one of the protesters. We deserve dignity. We deserve 15 an hour. We deserve to take care of our kids. I cannot even by my son any shoes. He has not he deserves to be held have some shoes on his feet. Im sure the shareholders take care of their families. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin todays show looking at the philippines where filipino president Rodrigo Duterte has been overseeing a bloody war on drugs. Since last more than 7000 people june, have been extrajudicially killed by police or vigilantes. Duterte has also suggested he might impose martial law across the country after first declaring it this week in his Native Island of mindanao. While Human Rights Groups have condemned duterte, he has received backing from President Trump who recently invited him to visit the white house. Human rights watch slammed the invitation saying by effectively endorsing dutertes murderous war on drugs, trump has made himself morally complicit in future killings. Well, earlier this week, a transcript of the call of Trump Inviting duterte to the white house was leaked and published by the intercept. According to the leaked transcript, trump said i just wanted to congratulate you because i am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem. Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and i just wanted to call and tell you that. Duterte responded thank you mr. President. This is the scourge of my nation now and i have to do something to preserve the filipino nation. Trump then responded i understand that, and fully understand that, and i think we had a previous president who did not understand that, but i understand that and we have spoken about this before. On may 1, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked about trumps decision to invite duterte to the white house. Ischris coons the president giving his stamp of approval to human rights abuses. A governor said, this is part of the unpleasant things that president s have to do. What is the white houses perspective on duterte . I think it is an opportunity for us to work with countries in that region that can help play a role and diplomatically isolating north korea. The National Interest of the u. S. Is the safety of our people and people in the region are the number one priorities of the president. Amy the leaked transcript of the trumpduterte call does confirm north korea came up but only after trump praised the filipino president on waging his war on drugs. During the call trump said , we have a lot of firepower over there. We have two submarines the best in the world we have two Nuclear Submarines not that we want to use them at all. Trump went on to say ive never seen anything like they are, but we dont have to use this, but he could be crazy so we will see what happens. Well, to talk more about president s trump and duterte, we are joined by Jeremy Scahill, cofounder of the intercept and host of the new weekly podcast, intercepted. Jeremys recently cowrote a threepart article on the leaked call for the intercept. Jeremy, it is great to have you with us here at the skydome where the blue jays play in toronto, canada. We all participated in a forum on journalm last night. But talk about this really explosive expose that you did for the intercept around trumps phone call with duterte. First of all, to establish what this is that we published, this was a transcript from a phone call that took place april 29 between trump and duterte. Trump initiated the call. What we published was a Philippine Government document, classified Philippine Government document. So this was the transcript that es people made of his call with trump. The reason i emphasize that is because after we published this, matt drudge put it at the top of drudge report. We had an enormous surge in traffic from many people who are supporters of donald trump. Drudge gotarded in bombarded with a Boycott Campaign from Trump Supporters who are saying, whoever leaked this should be prosecuted for treason. In the journalist who published this should be put in prison, which echoes what we know trump has sort of suggested in meetings most recently to james comey right before he fired him. This was not a u. S. Government document. People were saying, this is proof that obama left the white house bugged. It is like they dont understand the basic fact of went to foreign leaders are speaking, there are two sides of the conversation, so there we have it, the phone conversation amy how did you get it . Were not going to talk about sources or methods as the us the government likes to talk about. We will say we obtained it and the Philippine Government the Philippine Government validated it is legitimate document. The white house said the transcript was accurate. That leaves us with the fact that donald trump begins a phone call with Rodrigo Duterte openly bragging about how he will get a pardon or immunity to people who extrajudicially kill anyone involved with the drug war. In the dominant perception and the way this is portrayed by people, theyre just going after narcotraffickers. In reality, many drug users have been assassinated as part of this campaign. Duterte enjoys a pretty wide base of support in the philippines and kind of mixes in antiimperialist, anticolonialist rhetoric with these very harsh policies. He also is one of the few heads of state in the world he regularly swears that she called barack obama things that i cant even say on this program, the son of a rush than referenced as though obamas mother had been a sex worker. He is calling the president and saying im going to orient myself toward china and russia. He said that under obama because obama is a administration criticized the tactic that duterte was using, the paramilitary gangster tactics they were using. Not astonishing, but the most relevant part of this is that trump knows all of that. In fact, views that as a positive thing. So he calls duterte and says to to congratulate you for the amazing job that you are doing. And the reason we know it is not just generic platitude, trump himself references in this call the fact that his predecessor barack obama had said the obvious, which is, this is not right the way this is being handled. The Obama Administration had a very hypocritical record on human rights, but as allan nairn put it out before, hypocrisy has some virtue in at least youre able to call them out on it because they say one thing, but mean another. The bottom line is, trump calls duterte says, great job, amazing job, obama did not get it, i get it. You are a good man. Juan almost as shocking as the call in the congratulations from trump was the other part of the discussion about north korea and trump revealing to duterte and to lots of folks in the Philippine Government about Nuclear Submarines of the u. S. That are off the coast of north korea. First of all, trump still continues to use an insecure cell phone that he tweets from and has brought the cell phone to the table unclassified discussions about north korea. He did it withshinzo abe in maralago. There are pictures of trumps cell phone, his phone that he uses that has been already for years it has been known to have been compromised by chinese hackers. Insecurebringing this phone to meetings about north korea, then on the phone with duterte last month and says, we subsgot these two nuclear new north korea. He is saying this to duterte, who was most certainly under surveillance by both the north koreans and the chinese. Anyone is says, oh, you reveal this information the most damaging revelation of classified information happen when donald trump told duterte this. Duterte is a clever operator when it comes to china. He has called Vladimir Putin his hero. The most newsworthy aspect of that is, and i fell that for you, having to read those quotes from trump. When you actually read his words and you are not trump, it sounds like the garbled mess it actually is because you dont have the inflection and youre not sniffling and these things. Duterte about these submarines off the coast. He says, were so much more fire power than north korea. At least 20 times. 20 times . U. S. Is known to have more than 6000 of their warheads. North korea is believed to have around 10. Trumps math was way off. Some are saying, trump keeps saying we dont want to use it. That is not significant. What is significant is trump says this is a madman and we dont know what is going to do. We prefer not to go to war, but who knows . That is really frightening to hear from someone who is in command of the most lethal and powerful military in the world. This is sort of sat on one level but frightening, he says, roderigo, lets talk about kym johnson kim jongun. Is he stable or unstable . Why is the president of United States asking if kim jongun is unstable . Juan a man whose own stability is in question, duterte. I really dont know which of these three people that sort of the greater threat to civilization. Probably trump. Tough call. Amy lets go to some of the clubs of duterte in his own words. Last september, the philippines president likened himself to hitlers. Massacred 3 million jews. [indiscernible] at least if germany had hitler philippines you know all criminals. In the last fall, duterte called them president obama son of a whore and warned him not to ask about his socalled drug war. Ina president of a sovereign state. And we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any the filipino people. Nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Whore, i will swear at you in that form. And he can before he was elected, duterte admitted he was linked to a death squad. He spoke on a local tv show in a neck said english theyre saying im part of a death squad. How do you react to that . Thats true. You know, when i become president , i warn you, i dont covet the position. But if i become president , the 1000 will become 50,000. I will kill all of you who make the lives of filipinos miserable. I will really kill you. I won because of the breakdown in law and order. Juan in december, duterte boasted about having personally killed criminal suspects when he was mayor of davao city. Manila times reported he told a group of Business Leaders in the philippines capital in davao, i used to do it personally just to show to the guys that if i can do it, why cant you . And id go around in davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around, and i would just patrol the streets, looking for trouble also. I was really looking for a confrontation, so i could kill. Jeremy, comments from the president of the philippines. Naturee are more serious than the kinds of things that come out of Donald Trumps but they do have that in common where theyll just sort of say what theyre thinking. In a way, it is refreshing, i guess, because most World Leaders try to cover up the uncouth actions theyre taking in their countries. What i think is really significant for people to understand is that in the hitler quote he is saying germany had hitler and he underestimates the number of people that hitler killed, says 3 million, but he does not say we have 3 million narcotraffickers i want to kill. He says we have 3 million addicts. That is the point here. Theyre not going after the kind of chapo of the philippines. Many of the people who have been killed are rankandfile victims of a drug culture. That is who is paying the heaviest price will stop juan i want to ask about something us in the transcript. The short discussion between trump duterte about china and the president of china that trump said, oh, i met with him at maralago. He is a really good guy. This is after months and months china bashing here in a political campaign, all of a sudden, he seems to indicate he needs to rely on china, china is the critical country in being able to keep north korea at bay. Under obama, they called a policy on north Korea Strategic patience. I think all serious observers of korea politics and the history of korea know that the north korean regime is largely dependent on china for basically its survival in many ways, in addition to the smuggling and organized crime the north korean regime is involved with. But on a tactical level, trump spent a couple of days with xi jinping at maralago and then he is saying to duterte, oh, were to get the chinese to solve the problem. Duterte is, oh, yeah, i will give him a call. It shows how out of his depth trump is. When youreening talking about the presence of nuclear weapons, china plays the United States like a fiddle all the time in international relations. Amy before we go to break, then we will be joined by Glenn Greenwald, so duterte is coming to the white house . Donald trump says come anytime youre in washington, come by. After we published this, senator Lindsey Graham said he may join with democrats who are calling for trump to postpone that trip so they can discuss these issues. I do think what is interesting, he just declared martial law in the south of the country, duterte take did, and he is doing it in the name of fighting terrorism. That part of what duterte is doing has long been aided by the United States, the cia, military intelligence. Islamistme of fighting rebels. Duterte is now adopting that rhetoric just like bush and trump pulls the obama a different terms for. In a way, seems as though duterte is outsmarting trump in terms of how this is all playing. Amy Jeremy Scahill is going to stay with us cofounder of the , intercept and host of the new weekly podcast, intercepted. Scahills most recent article is called trump called Rodrigo Duterte to congratulate him on his murderous drug war you are doing an amazing job. His books include blackwater the rise of the worlds most powerful mercenary army and more recently, the assassination complex inside the governments secret drone warfare program. This is democracy now back with jeremy and Glenn Greenwald in a moment. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. We are broadcasting from the skydome where the Toronto Blue Jays play in toronto, canada. We were here for a journalism conference, along with our guests Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald. Are in britain, police expanding their investigation into mondays suicide bombing in manchester that killed 22 and left dozens injured. Many of those killed were young girls. While the manchester story has dominated international headlines, for less attention has been paid to other stories this week involving the deaths of civilians. In syria and iraq, u. S. Led an aspect airstrikes have killed dozens of civilians and the last week alone. The journalistic Monitoring Group airways has airstrikes on sunday and monday reportedly killed up to 44 civilians in mozilla is the one local journalist that the bombing caused the deaths of more than 20 civilians who were burned in their homes, mostly women and children. In syria, u. S. Led coalition reportedlynear raqqa killed up to 15 civilians, including two children on sunday. The syrian observatory for human rights had u. S. Led airstrikes have killed 225 civilians over the past month, including 44 children. Amy meanwhile, in yemen, the Human Rights Group reprieve says u. S. Navy seals killed five civilians during a raid tuesday night on a village. The killings reportedly began after a 70yearold civilian came out of his home to find out what was going on and was gunned down to by the seals. The pentagon says the raid targeted al qaeda and that seven militants were killed. To talk more about how the media covers civilian casualties, we are joined by the cofounders of the intercept, Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald. The manchester model, should it be used for other victims of war . Well, i mean, we know about the 22 victims, the horrific attack on the Suicide Attack in manchester as these tweens, mainly little girls Ariana Grande concert. We have learned the kids names, number of them, parents who had come to pick up their children. And our hearts grieve because we know who they are. They could be our families. We dont know the names of the children in yemen who died in a navy seal attack a few days after President Trump became president. A navy seal died, but also at least 30 civilians died, among them, women and children. Ofwe all do media criticism various types, and i know over the years, i have voiced all kinds of critics of u. S. Media coverage. But if i have the power to just overnight remedy one of them, this discrepancy is the one i would choose because think about how powerful it is, the effect it has on us as human beings. Even just randomly went upon sent to our twitter timeline or on to our facebook page, you see the name and the story and the grieving relatives of someone who was killed at this concert in manchester. No matter how rational you are, you feel anger and and but the. By feel so emotionally moved the horror of the violence that was perpetrated. So imagine if there was any kind of balance whatsoever where we knew the names of any of the victims of the indiscriminate violence of her own government, let alone the conference of coverage of the victims that is victimswhen we are the of violence. How much that would affect the perception that we have of the own governmenter perpetrates. We keep it so abstract. We usually just here for two people died, the pentagon claims it is militants of terrorists and left at that. At best we hear, they finally acknowledged four civilians are killed, but it is kept very distant and abstract. We never learn their names, never hear from their families, never hear their life aspirations extinguished. If there was some attention paid to telling the stories of the victims of our own government violence, i think there would be a radical shift in how we perceive ourselves, the role we play in the world, and who bears blame. Look a many times we read or hear reports the u. S. Has bombed or a funeral. Y there is never a description of who was the bride, who was the groom, who were the people that were killed and what were their or adreams . It is unfathomable to me if we have a Wedding Party in the u. S. That was somehow bombed in a terrorist incident that we would not know the names of every Single Person who was killed. We would have heard about the people, where they were going on our honeymoon, what the bride looks like when she was preparing. We are nothing about any of these people that are killed with our tax dollars in our name. Trump inked this deal with the saudis for well over 100 billion, defense stocks go to record highs. What do those what are those weapons going to be used for . In the immediate future, what theyre used for now, utterly destroy yemen. Where the United States and saudi arabia are absolutely raising to the ground the poorest country in the arab world and have caused the Catastrophic Health crisis in the country, which are ready was facing a total completion of their water supply. We dont think about victims of war in the same way that we talk about victims of School Shootings in this country or victims of terrorism when isis claims responsibility for it. It is a problem. Juan in the broader context, the refugee crisis now that it is engulfing europe, in the press, we dont cover what is the basis of this refugee crisis, what the reality is that it has it comes to iraq, been 20 years of warfare in iraq. In syria, libya, afghanistan. And republican a ministrations. Basically, the interventions in the military actions of the west that have created the refugee crisis, destabilize these countries, made it impossible im surprised that more people have not left afghanistan than have our he tried to flee to europe. You are totally right, the u. S. Wars did this. And her own personal lives, though if were friends or family members who compulsively blame other people and look for. In other people and never accept responsibility for their own actions and the way it contributes to problems, we say this is a real pathology and you need to start thinking about how it is your own actions contribute to problems. Yet the number one rule of media discourse, whenever there is violence or attacks, the one thing we dont want to do is think about the role we have played in provoking it. What is ironic, when it comes to other countries who are really good at doing that for example, if ices shoots down a russian plane or someone inspired by isis does a Russian Ambassador in turkey, every media outlet blames it russian foreignpolicy. They say this happen is because the russians are bombing syria or because the russians have provoked isis around the world. We make that calls a connection when it comes to our enemies. But when it comes to ourselves, there were warnings of the u. K. Invaded iraq or the u. K. Began bombing in syria, they would have exactly the kind of terrorist attack that just happen in manchester. I to talk about the causal connection there becomes instantly taboo. That means we just dont examine the policies that are invoked the name of stopping terrorism that are actually doing more to fuel and provoke terrorism than any other single factor. Can i add one small part of this . This guy for my existence, but erik prince, the founder of blackwater who has been serving as a shadow advisor to the trump administration, he was on fox news last week in prime time on Tucker Carlsons show. Tucker took over from bill oreilly. The two big points that erik was pushing, we need to put mercenaries and charge of the war in afghanistan. He likened it to the British Campaign in india, which was a Murderous Campaign where churchill boasted about the use of chemical weapons. It is an interesting analog prince is using. But the second point he made is, in left is completely nuts the United States because they loved the soviet union when it was a leftwing were present government and now theyre isonizing putin because he not part of the soviet union. The same kind of authoritarian. Isnt it great that trump has brought these two countries together. What is interesting about that, prince himself is at the tip of this beer of a move to try to monetize the refugee crisis right now. His solution is to get countries and thugs in countries like libya to get into business with the European Union to actually prevent people from leaving north africa or parts of the middle east to come into europe. And he wants to do it with a privatized Maritime Force accompanied by western military advisers working with local militias. This whole administration, in a way, is up for sale. When you have people like erik prince who are masterful mercenaries running around the scene and they are your biggest advocate in the u. S. Media when it comes to the russia issue, it raises a lot of questions. I do think the democrats have lost their minds with not seeing some value to having peaceful relations with in russia and the United States. The problem is, im not sure that is what trump is actually doing. But there is a lot of for sale right now. I think democrats are blowing a lot of opportunities by just focusing on a narrow aspect of buffoonery. Because there is a lot of highstakes stuff going on. Amy before we wrap up, i want to ask about Julian Assange. The swedish government has dropped the investigation into allegations of Sexual Misconduct by Julian Assange. He was never charged. What does this angel what does this mean, glenn . You won a Pulitzer Prize for your work on edward snowden. Julian assange has been in the Ecuadorian Embassy for almost five years. Foot outside,ps even though sweden has dropped this investigation, after questioning him at the embassy shame. S a i think everyone ought to agree when there are allegations of this type that are made and denials issued by the person he was accused, it is in everyones interest to try to make sure these claims are adjudicated, not your online debate, but in a court of law with due process. The fact that it has not been an apparently wont be, i think is this horrible is horrible for everybody involved. The reason why that happened, and a lot of people bear the blame for it, but the primary reason is that what the ecuadorian said all along was that were concerned about the persecution were protecting him from is not the allegations in sweden, but the concern that if he goes to sweden, he will then be turned over to the United States and be prosecuted for political crimes, namely, publishing documents list of the ecuadorians always said of the swedens would give us assurances that turning over julian to the swedish authorities will not result in him being extradited to the u. S. , we will send him to stockholm. Julien said the same thing. The swedish refused categorically to give those assurances, which is why the ecuadorians gave asylum. On top of which the prosecutors took many years to question julian and the embassy, which they were offering all along and could have done five years ago and did not. Now we are where the swedish investigators of said, we dont think we can proceed anymore. Were dropping the charges. Which means every fairminded person should not assume julian to be innocent, but also not guilty, because there is been no due process. Why is he still the embassy . The reason he cant leave his exactly what the ecuadorians feared, the u. S. Government has maker under trump they intend they will prosecute wikileaks and join us on us under an espionage statute for the crime of publishing documents. The british are entirely subservient to the wishes of the u. S. Government and will arrest julian the minute he steps out and undoubtedly turn them over to the u. S. The irony is that he is not a convicted, the charges are dropped amy not even charged. The case has been dropped. The investigation has been dropped. Yet he is in greater legal jeopardy than ever because Jeff Sessions and mike pompeo and donald trump, apparently, what to prosecute him for the crime of reporting on documents. There many people in the u. S. Media is below that would be a grave danger to their own does seem to be acquiescing or overtly supportive and it is a dangerous situation. A lot of what is missed in the criticism of assange and wikileaks from these organizations is that what they do to wikileaks and if they do charge Julian Assange with espionage, if they do criminalize what wikileaks is doing, that is a threat to journalists everywhere. Regardless of what you think of Julian Assange as a person or the allegations that originally surfaced in sweden, this is a tactic that the u. S. Government uses all the time. That is what the whole and by the Journalism Program is part of in the military. Embedded journalists remember Victoria Clarke during the invasion of iraq, an embedded journalists were basically fair game. If we end up killing you, that is your problem. If you are inveterate, you are working with us. Look at the way journalists talked about this recent israel leak story in the oval office with the russians were there. Cnn come all of these publications rushed in front of the cameras and microphones to say, we coordinated our coverage with the u. S. Government to make sure we would not say this or this. That is fair. You should ask the government when you are publishing documents, led to your argument. The idea that evan perez on cnn used the term coordinated a talk about what they were doing with the u. S. Government before publishing things is really the sharpest contrast you can draw. Wholeaks versus journalists go and say, mr. President , is it ok if we publish this . That is a problem. Regardless of what you think of wikileaks, if youre not against the prosecution under this, then youre going to be part of a drawn back of a press freedom in the United States. Amy we are wrapping up in 30 seconds, glenn. Tomorrow, were going to broadcast an exclusive interview with the ouster brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. You just flown in from brazil. As a kind of introduction to this, can you say what is happening there . It is hard to imagine anyone more vindicated than she. The argument that many of us made against the impeachment was if you impeach her, the people of brazil who will take over of. He single most corrupt faction the president of the country just got caught on tape three months ago endorsing rides. My husband was in brazil yesterday. That we no idea now have unraveled democracy what the result will be. Amy we will talk about that with Dilma Rousseff tomorrow on democracy now as well as glenns analysis of what is happening now with the president michel temer sending thousands of troops to brasilia. Glenn greenwald and Jeremy Scahill, both cofounders of the intercept. Jeremy has just started a new weekly podcast called intercepted. When we come back, we speak with toronto journalist and activist desmond cole. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. We are broadcasting from, well, the stadium where the blue jays play. Thats right, we are in toronto, canada, at the skydome. Juan i choose activism in the service of black liberation. Those are the words of our next guest, desmond cole, explaining why he left his bimonthly column at the toronto star. Last month, cole protested a Toronto Police Services Board meeting and was subsequently told by his editor at the star that he had violated the newspapers rules on journalism and activism. In his writings, cole has long criticized the Controversial Police practice of carding stopping, interrogating and collecting data on individuals without probable cause, a practice which disproportionately targets people of color in canada. In 2015, he wrote a widely read piece for toronto life titled, the skin im in ive been interrogated by police more than 50 times all because im black. Last month, cole brought a Police Board Hearing to a halt by refusing to leave the speakers chair until all information gathered from carding was destroyed. I stand up for the children of this city that you guys refuse to protect, particularly the black children. And i plan to stand here in protest until you commit until you commit today, here and now, to restricting the police having our information Going Forward. Youre going to ruin another generation of childrens lives, and im not going to allow you to do it. Thanks, desmond. [applause] please have the courtesy to let the other people on the list no. Speak. We can stall. So lets adjourn the meeting for 10 minutes, please. Board members . Amy you were just listening to desmond cole derailing a Toronto Police Services Board meeting last month. Shortly afterwards, desmond was called into the toronto stars office and told his protest had violated the newspapers code of conduct. The newspapers policy and journalistic standards manual states it is not appropriate for star journalists to play the roles of both actor and critic. Desmond cole says this is not the first time he has been reprimanded by the newspaper. Last year, the chair of torstar corp. , who was also serving as as the stars acting publisher at that time, asked to meet with desmond. The chair, John Honderich, reportedly told cole he was writing about race too often, and advised him to diversify his topics. Well, democracy now invited John Honderich or a spokesperson for the toronto star to join us on the show, but they declined our request. The newspapers director of Community Relations and communications pointed us to a column by the papers public editor, kathy english. The column is headlined journalists shouldnt become the news. Well, for the remainder of the hour, were joined now by desmond cole, former columnist for the torontournalist, activ, and radio host on newstalk 1010. Desmond welcome to democracy , now it is great to be here. Amy talk about what happened. I think you described it very well. I have been a columnist since about september 2015. Surprise to the newspaper i was engaging in activism. In fact, what the toronto Star Reporters have been covering my columnists a became a for the paper and have been describing me as a freelance journalist and activist. The idea i broke their policy is nonsense because the policy of the paper is inconsistent at best and is not applied to other writers and columnists of the same paper that also engage in different forms of activism. My analysis of what happened to me is that because i am working in the service of black liberation, because i and fighting white supremacy, and because that requires me to engage in acts of civil disobedience as i did at the police Board Meeting, John Honderich to whom you mentioned, became too uncomfortable with my actions to feel comfortable apporting me Going Forward as columnist. So they made up this nonsense that the idea i was breaking the rules of the newspaper, rather than simply saying, were uncomfortable wraps John Honderich and others were receiving a lot of phone calls. I disrupted a Police Services Board Meeting in which the mayor of the city of toronto was present. I know its things like that make our government and many of our business and even newspaper leaders very uncomfortable. That is their problem. Come tohn honderich meet your go and try to interfere in my content as an opinion writer in the city, that was ludicrous and that is really the story. Why is one of the most powerful people of the toronto star coming to me and trying to divert my work and try to suggest i should be talking about this or that . That wasnt, in my view, his role. He was out of line also because i have brought a lot of attention to issues the star has been covering for years and done it successfully. This is about a powerful person on a power trip and the inappropriate actions he was taking more than a year ago of until now to try to silence me. Juan what you raise about the publisher, someone who has worked in commercial media for 40 years, i cant remember ever a publisher of a newspaper i was a staff columnist having a meeting with one of the commonests or reporters to discuss the content of their work. It doesnt happen. John honderich tried to make it seem like it was normal for him in his position to come to somebody who was writing once a week to have this Big Conversation about my content. He tried to make a scene like it was a normal thing. Certainly, the media in canada, have been afraid to pick up on that thread of this issue. They have preferred to have this really ridiculous faux existential conversation about, what does this mean for journalism . What is journalism anyway . Can one be a journalist and an activist . This has all diverted that i took a stand against police keeping records on innocent tople because everyone up the mayor of our city of toronto has said that practice is illicitnd has to stop, but they have not followed through. So all of these conversations about my tactics as an individual to try to silence that, these are classic diversionary tactics when the black people take a stand. Amy you have said you have been stopped over 50 times. Stopped are followed in my car or question and asked for information. In kingston, ontario, world university, that is here in toronto, different parts of this province. Even when i leave the province of ontario, no matter where i am in the country, it is extremely hard as a younger black person not to attract the attention of police. I am terrified when these interactions happen, but again, the reason we have been having this conversation about carding amy explain what that is. You did a great job in the intro. It is a practice of not only stopping people, civilians who are not suspected of any crime, but documenting your interactions with them and keeping them in a database. So keeping noncriminal records of civilians. This has been a rampant practice in the city of toronto. There are very, very few black families and individuals this practice has not touched in one way or another. Or recently, we have been talking about how even police stationed in our schools are engaging in surveillance against students. Our collecting information on students a socalled School Resource officers who are posted in our high schools when theyre supposed to be building relationships, as they like to put it, with our kids. So these records, the stock criminal records, can follow people when they try to apply for a job, apply for school positions that require background checks. And they create a kind of picture of somebody doing something wrong or just trying to live in their community. This has disproportionately affected black people in toronto, but also queer and trans communitys, fueled Mental Health issues, the kinds of people in our society who are horrible and easy targets for police vulnerable and easy targets for police. This is not a referendum on myself or the number of times i have been stopped. This is a rampant Police Practice that is about oppressing and documenting people of color and other like marginalized groups. Amy we will be asking you what you would be writing about. That is desmond cole. On this episode of eat drink italy we talk vin santo, the dessert wine, and tuscan cookies. Then we remain in tuscany to learn how to make a tuscan version of brasato. Then i help make a really fun recipe little biscuits made with grana padano cheese. My name is vic rallo, and i eat, drink italy. Follow me, and ill prove it. Eat drink italy is brought to you by. Wine enthusiast magazine and catalog for wine storage, glassware, and accessories. The historic count Basie Theatre in red bank, new jersey. The Atalanta Corporation importing authentic italian products and more for over 50 years. Coffee afficionado artisanal roasters of sustainably sourced coffee