Pres. Trump as of today, the United States will cease all implementation of the nonbinding paris accord and the draconian financial and economic burdens the agreement imposes on our country. Amy Donald Trumps decision through swift condemnation from World Leaders and climate activists around the world. We are fully committed. Wherever we are, we all share the same responsibility make our planet great again. I think some ive never seen so much of my life. We do not have much time. Amy we will host a roundtable discussion with climate scientists and activists from around the world. On the very same day trump announced he is pulling the United States out of the landmark climate accord, oil began flowing through the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. A new investigation by journalist Antonia Juhasz reveals more details about how the private military contractor tigerswan carried out extensive militarystyle counterterrorism efforts targeting the indigenous led movement against the pipeline. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. President donald trump announced thursday he will withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris Climate Accord that was signed by nearly 200 nations in 2015 and heralded as a rare moment of International Collaboration to avert imminent climate disaster. Trump spoke in the white house rose garden, surrounded by supporters. Pres. Trump in order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect america and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from , butaris climate accord begin negotiations to reenter into the paris accord or an entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, taxpayers. Amy President Trumps decision drew swift condemnation from leaders and climate activists in every corner of the globe. A spokesperson called it a major disappointment. France joined germany and italy and issuing a joint statement expressing regret and trump. Ting us rejecting term back in the us, former secretary state john kerry, who led the u. S. Into the paris deal, said President Trump could have simply reduced u. S. Pledges to reduce Carbon Emissions, which are voluntary under the Paris Agreement. No country is required by this agreement to do anything except what that country decided to do for itself. So donald trump is not telling the truth to the American People when he says we have this huge burden that has been imposed on us by other nations. No. We agreed to what we would do. We design it. It is voluntary. Theresident of the United States could simply have changed that without walking away from the whole agreement. Amy the former president ireland said trumps decision had turned the United States into a rogue state. We will have more on President Trump move to withdraw from the paris accord after headlines. In washington, d. C. , the Trump Administration says it has granted retroactive wavers to senior staff to allow them to skirt ethics rules aimed at preventing conflicts of interest. The disclosure came in undated memos by the counsel to the president that were made public wednesday evening. One of those benefiting from the move is trumps chief strategist stephen bannon, who has reportedly maintained contact with the farright website breitbart media in violation of a white house ethics pledge. Bannon formerly headed breitbart, which frequently publishes racist, sexist, xenophobic news. The director of the office of government ethics, walter shaub, told the New York Times, the move was invalid, saying there is no such thing as a retroactive waiver. If you need a retroactive waiver, you have violated a rule. In russia, president Vladimir Putin denied allegations thursday that the russian government meddled in the 2016 u. S. Election. But putin suggested for the first time that independent Russian Hackers may have played a role in undermining the campaign of hillary clinton. Hackers are freespirited people. They are like artists. If they are in a good made in the morning, they wake up and paint. It is the same for hackers. They wake upoday, they read something is happening in interstate relations, and if there patriotically minded, they start to make up their own contribution to what they believe is the good fight against those who speak badly about russia. Amy putins comments came as two Democratic Senators said they asked former fbi director james comey to investigate whether attorney general Jeff Sessions perjured himself when he testified to congress in january that he did not have any communications with the russians ahead of the november election. Senators al franken of minnesota and pat leahy of vermont say they were expecting comey to brief them on the matter on may 12, but say the briefing never happened because President Trump fired comey on may 9 after sessions and his Deputy Attorney general recommended comeys termination. Comey is scheduled to testify publicly to the Senate Intelligence committee next thursday. President trump Senior Adviser and soninlaw Jared Kushner took advantage of a federal program aimed at helping lowincome communities to build a gleaming, 50story residential tower in a wealthy neighborhood in new jersey. That is according to the Washington Post which reported that kushner and his Real Estate Partners drip a map similar to a gerrymandered Congressional District that falsely claimed the areas around the tower at 65 bay street in jersey city are blighted. In fact, the map stretched miles into areas of south jersey city where poverty and unemployment are high, while avoiding affluent neighborhoods just blocks from the residential tower. The move gave kushners Company Access to 50 million in lowcost financing under a program aimed at promoting investment in areas of high unemployment. Kushner and his partners are attempting to use a similar map to secure 150 million to build a pair of luxury towers in jersey citys Journal Square neighborhood. In the philippines, at least 36 people are dead after a gunman stormed a manila casino resort and lit the building on fire. The gunman reportedly fired shots into a Television Screen and set gambling tables on fire with gasoline, setting off a stampede and suffocating guests. Police described the attacker as a white englishspeaking , foreigner. They reported he died after he fled with more than 2 million in stolen casino chips, holed up in a nearby hotel room, and committed suicide by setting himself on fire. Friday mornings attack was falsely labeled terrorism by president donald trump, but police say it was a failed attempt a heist. The attack came after philippines president Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in mindanao, as his forces battle isisallied militants in the city of marawi. On thursday, 11 philippines soldiers were killed in a socalled friendly fire airstrike aimed at the fighters. Duterte has threatened to declare martial law nationwide if the insurgency continues. In iraq, the journalistic Monitoring Group airwars reports more than 20 civilians were killed, most of them women and children, after airstrikes or artillery attacks struck their homes in western mosul. Among those reportedly killed were resident Hussein Abbas and 11 members of one family. Most sources blamed u. S. Backed iraqi forces for the deaths. In venezuela, gunmen shot and killed a judge wednesday night at a caracas checkpoint set up by opposition protesters hoping to topple the government of president Nicolas Maduro. Local media reported judge Nelson Moncada may have been targeted for assassination because he sentenced Opposition Leader Leopoldo Lopez to nearly 14 years in prison for inciting violence during mass protests three years ago. This is venezuelas interior minister nestor reverol. We have not ruled out that this was done by an assassin, a hitman contracted by right wing terrorists aimed at creating more terror. Amy with the killing, the death toll from two months of clashes between Security Forces and antigovernment protesters rose to 62. On thursday, president Nicolas Maduro said he would hold a National Referendum on his plan to create a new constituent assembly that would have the power to rewrite venezuelas constitution. In colombia, massive protests are growing in the port city of buenaventura, despite violent repression by the police and colombian military. The government has deployed thousands of soldiers and riot police amid the uprising in the majority afrocolombian city. Residents launched the ongoing general strike on april 16 to protest the lack of basic services, including clean Drinking Water, health care, and Primary School education. Dozens of protesters have been wounded by soldiers firing live ammunition at peaceful marches. Hundreds more demonstrators have been arrested. In mexico city, journalists gathered outside the offices of the attorney general thursday demanding an investigation into the abduction of salvador adame pardo, a journalist who was kidnapped by gunmen in the state of michoacan on may 18. The abduction came amid a wave of murders of mexican journalists. This is frida urtiz, salvador adamas wife. All journalists in mexico are scared. They go to this constantly. Today we should not be separated. We should be united. We have different opinions, but we should be united so no other salvador goes missing. Amy mexicos National Commission on human ghts reports over 120 journalists have been killed in mexico since 2000. Also in mexico, the United Nations has launched an 18 Million Campaign to support Central American unaccompanied migrant children. The office of the u. N. High commissioner for human rights says the fund will help protect children escaping sexual violence, extortion, and forced conscription into criminal gangs. This is ema, a honduran child who fled to mexico. We cant live in honduras anymore. There are many people leaving the country for the same reason crime. The gangs are bad. There are deaths of innocent people, children. We cannot live in honduras anymore. Amy the unhcr says more than 180,000 children fled Central America in 2016, a tenfold increase over the last five years. Back in the United States the , Trump Administration has further restricted rules on applicants for u. S. Visas, rolling out a questionnaire this week that will require them to provide five years worth of social media handles and 15 years of biographical information. The Administration Calls the questions voluntary but the new , form says applicants who dont provide the information might see their visas delayed or denied. The restrictions came as the Trump Administration asked the u. S. Supreme court to reinstitute its ban on refugees and travelers from six majoritymuslim nations. Federal judges have enjoined the travel ban, ruling it likely violates the first amendments establishment clause, which prohibits religious discrimination. And Princeton University professor of africanamerican studies keeangayamahtta taylor has canceled all her upcoming public appearances amid a wave of Death Threats that followed a fox news report critical of her comments about president donaldy commencement address in massachusetts. The president of the United States, the most powerful politician in the world, is a racist, sexist, megalomaniac. [cheers and applause] benignot a observation. From the terror inducing rage in the communities of undocumented immigrants to his disparaging of refugees in search of freedom and respite. Amy professor taylor said she would not give speeches planned for seattle and san diego this week out of fear for the safety of her family after she received a torrent of vile comments and threats to her life. In a statement, taylor wrote we have to change this dynamic and begin to build a Massive Movement against racism, sexism and bigotry in this country. I remain undaunted in my commitment to that project. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. President donald trump announced thursday he will withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris Climate Accord that was signed by nearly 200 nations in 2015 and heralded as a rare moment of International Collaboration to avert imminent climate disaster. He spoke in the white house rose garden, surrounded by supporters. Pres. Trump as of today, the United States will cease all implementation of the nonbinding draconianrd and the financial and economic burdens the agreement imposes on our country. This includes ending the implementation of the nationally ermined contribute in contribution, and very important, the green comment fund, which is costing the fortune. Ates a vast a maker the United States is the worlds secondlargest emitter of Greenhouse Gases. As part of the accord, a committed to providing Financial Assistance for pollution controls in developing nations. By pulling out of the agreement trump stuck to his Campaign Promise of putting america first. Pres. Trump the citizens of pittsburgh, not paris. It is time to put youngstown michigan, and pittsburgh, pennsylvania, along with many, many other locations within our great country, before paris, france. It is time to make America Great again. Amy in fact, the city of pittsburgh has a Climate Action plan committing to boosting the use of Renewable Energy, and pittsburgh mayor bill peduto, a democrat, has been an outspoken supporter of the paris accord. He tweeted after trumps announcement as the mayor of pittsburgh, i can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy and future. The response from World Leaders was similarly defiant. France joined germany d ity in issuing a joint statement expressing regret and rejecting trumps claim he would renegotiate the deal. French president Emmanuel Macron also responded with a televised speech that marked the first time a french president has ever given a speech in english from the elysee palace. We will succeed because we wherever wemmitted are, we all share the same responsibility. Make our planet great again. Amy meanwhile, germanys chancellor Angela Merkel pledged ongoing commitment to the Paris Climate Accord and said trumps decision would not stop it from moving forward. Would not stop germany from moving forward. Germany will support the fiji islands in preparing the next Climate Conference and we will do that together with france. Yesterday i spoke with the french president macron about the Paris Agreement to the conference in november which will go further on that path of climate control. Amy now new diplomatic alliances appear to be forming in the wake of trumps announcement, with europe, india and china all pledging to uphold their end of the deal. China chinese premier, li keqiang, joined with European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker at an euchina summit in brussels on friday in a show of solidarity. The former president of ireland, mary robinson, said trumps decision had turned the United States into a rogue state. Former mexican president vincente fox tweeted that the United States has stopped being the ader of the freeorld. On twitter, critics noted that in 2009 the trump family, including donald trump, took out a full page ad in the New York Times urging International Action on Climate Change. Following trumps announcement, landmarks in cities around the world were lit up green in support of the Paris Climate Accord. Here in new york city demonstrators gathered near city , hall to protest. Changeing about climate is an issue of economic justice. If trump thinks is going to undermine what we have been building here in new york city, he is wrong. Climate justice. When we won it . Now. My name is sean williams. You look at his executive order that he is signing and even with this paris accord and pulling out of it, you see that everything he wants to do is taking us back to all of the things that we fought against and that we fought to get out of. My name is lola. I am a student at nyu. It is not a valid argument, the jobs argument him especially because lives are at risk. Millions of lives are at risk. Refugees are at risk. Now is the time. We need to stop them. We do not have much time. We do not have much time. I am charlotte with a powerful movement to change the ener supply to renewables for alof new york city. I think trump is some kind of diabolical wakeup call because ive never seen so much Civic Engagement in my life. Ive never seen so much local power, local government stand up on issues that normally they dont. What do we want . Climate justice. Would we want it . Now. What is going to have a with the planet . There would be no one left. What theyre not realizing is there going to go down, too. The last time i checked, there is no other planet. This is it. Is, trump, bannon, are you suicidal . Is that what this is . Because youre going to go, too. Amy some of the voices of protest against President Trumps announcement thursday that he is withdrawing the United States out of the landmark Paris Climate Accord. When we come back, we host a roundtable discussion with michael mann, kumi naidoo, asad rehman, and antia juhasz. This is democracy now back in a moment. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. You can sign up for our daily newsletter at democracynow. Org. We turn now to a roundtable discussion on President Trumps announcement thursday he will withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris Climate Accord signed by nearly 200 nations in 2015, and heralded as a rare moment of International Collaboration to of her imminent climate disaster. Collegete pennsylvania, were joined by michael mann. His latest book he coauthored with political cartoonist to toles titled the madhouse effect how clime change denial is threatening our planet, destroying our politics, and driving us crazy. And video stream from south us,ca, kumi naidoo rejoins south african activist and the former head of greenpeace. He is chairperson of africans rising for justice, peace and dignity. And outside of london asad , rehman, executive director of war on want. And Antonia Juhasz is an oil and energy journalist. Her latest piece is headlined, Paramilitary Security tracked and targeted nodapl activists as jihadists, docs show. Lets go to michael mann and your response to just what happened yesterday in the white house rose garden. Thank you. It is good to be with you. What can be said that hasnt already been said. I thought you laid it out well. The u. S. Through the actions of donald trump as an international outlaw. We literally are on the sidelines with syria and nicaragua is the only and nicaragua has not signed onto the paris accord because they think it does not go far enough. As the only countries now that are not respecting the commitments of the paris accord. Of most dangerous aspect that action is the potential Ripple Effect with the second largest emitter of carbon on face of e planet, the u. S. , withdrawing, the fear is this will create a snowball effect, a Ripple Effect where other countries like india might say, well, if the u. S. , which has had 200 years of access to free dirty energy isnt willing to do their part, then why should we come a country trying to develop its economy, go along with this . That is the real danger is the message it sends to the rest of the world. As you have alluded to, thus far there appears to be a solidarity among the remaining nations, france, china come and india. So that is a good sign. Amy can you talk about, professor michael mann, the science around this climate accord . Throughout his speech, trump repeatedly claimed that the accord puts the United States at an economic disadvantage in relation to the rest of the world. Pres. Trump this agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the United States. The rest of the world applauded when we signed the Paris Agreement. They went wild. They were so happy. For the simple reason that it put our country, the United States of america which we all love at a very, very big economic disadvantage. Amy trump repeatedly claimed the Paris Climate Accord is hurting American Workers and costing them jobs. Pres. Trump the Paris Climate Accord is simply the latest example of washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the United States. To the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American Workers who i love and taxpayers to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories , and vastly diminished economic production. Mann,up professor michael your existing was professor of atmospheric science. He did not address the science. He talked about the issue of jobs. I am wondering if you can talk about both, in particular as he talked about his love for coal miners. Sure. First on the science. He did wade into that territory a bit when he claimed the paris accord would only shave 1 10 of a degree celsius of temperature rise off of the trajectory that we are on. That is pretty good for donald trump. He was only off by a factor of 10. It will shave at least a degree celsius. With proper ratcheting up, it will literally cut the projected warming in half, getting us onto a path where we could see stabilizing the warming below two degrees celsius, what most scientists who study the impact of Climate Change will tell you it constitutes sort of the level of dangerous interference with the climate. On the jobs de o things. Again, he gets the numbers wrong. First of all, there are only about 70,000 jobs in the u. S. In coal. And Energy Experts recognize this is a dying industry. There were nearly a million jobs in Renewable Energy in the u. S. Last year. We are on a trajectory where there is tremendous growth in Renewable Energy. Look, the rest of the world recognizes that that is the economic revolution of this century. China, for example, is cleaning our clock when it comes to Renewable Energy. In fact, producing so much for Solar Energy Technology that they have literally flooded the cheap Global Economy with solar panels and brought down the price of Solar Technology tremendously. So, you know, the rest of the world recognizes that this is the great growth industry of this century and the u. S. Risks getting left behind if it does not get on board. So whether we are talking about the science, whether were talking about economic competitiveness, whether were talking about jobs, everything that trump said yesterday was wrong. Tweetedfessor mann, you i want to ask asad rehman, who is in london right now, who is head of war on want, your reaction and the reaction in europe right now to Donald Trumps historic removal withdrawal of the United States from the paris accord . Thank you, amy. First of all, let me just say there has been a long tradition of u. S. Weakening of Climate Action is a go back to the kyoto agreement, that was very weak. A week pledge from the United States, full of loopholes. That was to accommodate the United States. The Paris Agreement was nonbinding. It was voluntary. The pledges would lead to a warming of at least three degrees. It is to be strengthened. That was under president obamas watch. To accommodate the United States, i think one of the powerful lessons of this is that long is a tradition in a history of american exceptionalism within Climate Action. And the rest of the world has to move faster and more ambitious, and leave the u. S. Behind. The reaction youre seeing now has been strong and positive, both from governments, but also social organizations and Civil Society where people are committed and recognizing the real change will come not necessarily from donald trump, but from the grassroots within the United States. This is that for the people of the United States. The temperature increase of one degree warming around the world s leading to killer floods and droughts all of the world. The arctic melting, coral being bleached. , nothas huge implications just on the poorest parts of the world. The impact serving felt around the world. This is absolutely the donald trump astounded the United States climate criminal and put itself outside of multilateralism and global society. I think it is also part of a bigger trend of donald trump. I would say this is a reecti of a real minet to the neocolonial white supremacist mindset. If you take it into context with the muslim ban, building walls and fences, then walking away from Climate Change where the United States has historically been the greatest and responsible for the greatest amount of co2 in the atmosphere its pledge is so weak, it is doing less than 1 5 of what it should be doing. He was absolutely wrong on his comments about climate finances. The fact the u. S. s only pledging about 1 billion, which is a drop in the ocean of what the impact is happening around the world and what is needed for poor countries to develop cleanly fielded tackle we have to remember billions of our cities are still without access to energy, still living in subsistence and facing party. I am originally from pakistan where four out of 10 people face multiple indices of poverty and just last week, were temperature levels recorded a 53. 5 degrees centigrade. That is literally the upper level of what a human being can tolerate in the open. This is the same country where one flood impacted 30 million people, covered 1 5 of the country, and costs the country billions and billions of dollars. These are real and live in packs. What he has done is that only turned his back on the international community, he is basically saying, black lives, poor lifestyle matter. They dont matter and the rest of the world and they dont matter in the u. S. Because it is the poorest and most avoidable people in the u. S. W face these impact ulneble peoplen thu. S. Who face these impacts. Former secretary of state john kerry, who led the u. S. Into the paris accord under president obama thursday, blasted President Trump for withdrawing from the deal. Speaking to cbs, he noted u. S. Commanders to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions are voluntary under the paris accord and said trump could have simply scaled back. No country is required by this agreement to do anything except what that country decided to do for itself. So donald trump is not telling the truth to the American People when he says we have this huge burden imposed on us by other nations. No. We agreed to what we would do. We designed it. It is voluntary. The president of the United States could have simply changed that without walking away from the whole agreement. Amy asad rehman, your response . He said it himself clearly. Weak a voluntary early agreement. The United States could have stayed in and done even less. At one level, i think it is a useful signal from the u. S. Because now it must spur people elect European Union who have aided the United States in weakening the agreement, they must now say, absolutely we have a responsibility. We have to live up to our fair share. European union is alsoot doi itfairhare. Climate scientists tell us it is about a decade if we want to keep temperatures below the critical 1. 5 degrees threshold where impacts will be absolutely devastating for the poorest countries in the world. In that, now we have an talksunity the climate take place in germany this year. Theres an opportunity for richer countries to come there and increase their targets. That would be the best response to donald trump. It would be saying what we need is a legally binding agreement, but one that is based on the science and not what rich countries want to do or feel they are able to do. That absolutely is disastrous both for the planet and its people. Amy i want to turn to south africa right now. , chair of kumi naidoo africans rising for justice is and dignity, we talked to you about the imminent announcement. We were not sure what was going to happen. P. M. Rday just after 3 00 eastern time, President Trump take to the rose garden, speaking to his supporters and announced the u. S. Withdrawal from the climate deal. Now, fromnse right your position in johannesburg, south africa, what this means for the african continent . Asad and myself who did not think this deal was as ambitious as it needed to be, it is quite interesting situation because yesterday after i was interviewed by democracy now , some rightwing publication i thi said come all of the critics of the Paris Agreement announcing, oh, dear, such a bad thing that donald trump has pulled out. This is cognitive dissident at its worst. Where there is denial that they are close to the climate as one newspaper put it, Donald Trumps message to the world, the front page said message to the world drop dead. That is how it is being reported. For us and half, we are already seeing brutal and the first impacts of Climate Change. We think this is not only a bet rayel betrayal for poor just unjust. But what i think is clear is that the successful nations, companies, societies of the future are not going to be those of the space race or any other race, it will be the Green Technology race. I think apart from the harm he is done globally through this decision, the biggest threats and biggest damage he will do to the American People itself. And i think the positive thing about it is what i have heard in the last 12 hours is that it has really energized the Climate Movement. So there are people right now, for example im looking at proposal right now being sent to me for coalition of activists were talking about a strategic boycott of United States, targeting services and products of the unit is eighth, something we have never heard about of the United States, something we have never heard about. Youre seeing mayors, progressive governors, progressive businesses in the United States saying to trump, we are moving ahead anyway. Our call from africa and the socalled global south, what people call the developing countries, to the people of the United States right now is that we did not judge you on the basis of what a crazy president we will judge you by how you trump. To president and we call on the people of the United States today to mobilize the biggest ever civil disobedience against the president of the United States. We have seen some inspiring things already since the election. And i think right now we have to call on the people of the United States to muster the boldest, peaceful, strongest civil disobedience to put pressure to behat he might have humbled to go back and reverse his decision. Amy i want to bring Antonia Juhasz into the discussion, oil and energy journist speaking to us from california. Your spiegel h a remarkable cover, the german magazine. It said america first, earth last. Your response to Donald Trumps announcement . I think the announcement shows not the independence that donald trump is trying to put just butbut who he has who he is captured by and who he is been responsive to. So you have the domesticil industry and fossil fuel industry and just to be clear, donald trump says he loves coal miners by coal miners do not love him. He was not endorsed by the coal workers union, United Mine Workers of america. They have never liked him. Donald trump is standing with Coal Companies and fossil feel companies who have been very successful in making his domestic agenda be one that would not adhere to our commitments in any case, limiting regulations, and opening up new areas to production so that we would increase our already high Carbon Emissions and pollution and health effects, etc. But also, lets recall this is coming quite shortly after trumps first foreign trip to saudi arabia. Ini reported from paris newsweek and we discussed on the show from paris, saudi arabia has desperately been trying to stop the cmate accord process for years, and does not want, for obvious reasons, the world to declare its lack of intent to continue to use carbonbased fuel. Trump came back from saudi arabia and announced that the u. S. Would be eliminating its commitments and pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord. Another country that would very much like to seehe world not make a commitment to move off of is russia,sil fuels a country where there is a great deal of concern about the relationship with donald trump putin and to russia. Trump can do a great deal of damage, even in the four years of the withdrawal period. As you use in your headliner, the Paris Climate Accord had a lot of weaknesses, but one of its strengths with the global 500 billion commitment to helping those countries that are suffering the worst consequences of Climate Change right now to help deal with those immediate cost and tried to some adaptation. This was not enough money, but it was still 500 billion. The obama a administration pledged 4 billion, only put forward 1 billion. Trump is essentially saying the u. S. Is not going to find and help put money forward, which is something that we have, doubt address the immediate impacts right now of the climate crisis. Amy in the Green Climate fund. Thats right. And he is slashing come in is already proposed budget that came out prior to this announcement, for akoni and cut draconian cuts through international agencies, including the United Nations. Nowhere in all of this, by the way, are we seeing these great rumors that Rex Tillerson is a great defender of Paris Climate Accord. Where is Rex Tillerson when donald trump is already proposing in his budget these cuts to address our commitments to paris and climate . Where is Rex Tillerson when donald trump is proposing and enacting harsh cuts to the Environmental Protection agency and its ability to regulate fossil fuels . Ine New York Times reported this article how Rex Tillerson is trying to support the Paris Climate Accord that of course the currency of exxonmobil just happens to be sharing the same position and in a meeting where the current sealed exxon mobil barely conveyed deposition privately and he is joined others in doing so publicly, he was in a meeting, according to the times, were they were discussing new offshore drilling in the gulf of mexico. There is a public stance which could be we support paris and the paris accord, but there is a real policy piece that makes it meaningful. The damage that can be done in those four years is vast. To me it shows, as i said, the alliances trump and also sends important message. U. S. Is not going to hold to its commitment, the federal government isnt, to paris. As is the world a message, you t have to put in place policies that shift away from fossil fuels because her isnt going to be an International Commitment that you do so. Thats a very dangerous message, particularly for countries like saudi arabia and russia that would really like to make it clear fossil fuels are here to stay, oil is here to stay. That sends a message to the rest of the world, you can continue on this path. Fortunately, as we have heard, local communities, activists, many governments are not going to listen to that message. And the fact it is coming from andu. S. Is deeply troubling is certainly a message the Trump Administration was hoping to convey on behalf of, as i said, the domestic oil and fossil fuel industry and his allies and allies he is hoping to continue to foster, i would argue, most important link saudi arabia and russia. Amy antonio, i want you to stay. After break, i want to find out about your latest investigation into tigerswan, the company that has been surveilling the indigenous movements against the Dakota Access pipeline, news is that oil is now flowing through dapl, through this pipeline under the missouri river. I want to go back to kumi naidoo in south africa to talk about civil disobedience. That is what youre known for, former head of greenpeace, now chair of africans rising for justice, peace, and dignity. What you think people around the world and in the United States, what do you think the responsibility is right now . Well, i think it is clear that we put too much faith in political and Business Leaders over the last several decades, expecting them as parents and grandparents who have a vested interest in the future of the children, to do the right thing. The message that we get now out of washington and President Trump one where we have to realize that if we as ordinary citizens do not stand up and take ownership of putting pressure on our political and Business Leaders in a much more stronger, peaceful, and bold way, we are not going to do the results we need. We are literally five minutes to midnight. We are seeing the devastation being caused already by existing climate impacts. People seem to have short memories. I would think the President Trump would recall hurricane sandy. , scientists told us was called by the level of Arctic Sea Ice in the summer months when it happened. So where we are is we have to recognize and we as activists and in the Climate Movement have to take a very hard look at ourselves. As our einstein once said, the definition of insanity is in the same thing over and over again expecting to get different results. We now have to say, well, what can we do differently . What can we do that makes it irresistible for corrupt, selfserving, captured by vested interests leaders how long do we tolerate this behavior . I think right nowalready over the last couple of years we have seen intensification of civil disobedience around climate activism. Everyd like to sake to parent and grandparent, if you care about your children, you should becoming a climate activist. You should be considering civil disobedience because that is the kind of pressure that we need what the to align science is saying we need to do, what Mother Nature is saying we need to do with extreme weather events and someones, and what actions we tackle some amy michael mann, what are climate scientists doing . It seems this announcement has brought out Climate Change deniers that were not even being turned to before, people who are not willing to say this are now coming out talking about the questionable science on television and the networks are filled with those voices as well. That is right. Sort of the coulter the donald thep has created where leader of our states and has adopted, asficial position, that Climate Change is either a hoax created by the chinese or at least something that we dont need to worry about. When the overwhelming consensus of the world scientists, which includes the u. S. National academy of sciences and every Scientific Society in the u. S. That has weighed in on the matter, is that Climate Change is real, human cost, and already wreaking havoc in the form of unprecedented heat and drought and flooding events. In superstorms, record straight hurricanes. It is already wreaking havoc. And if we dont act now to reduce our emissions dramatically over the next 10 years, we will go right past that 1. 5 degree celsius mark that was mentioned earlier. We will sell past that across the two degrees celsius mark, which is, again, where we have reason to think we will see the worst and potentially irreversible changes in climate. So we dont have time to act. We dont have time if were going to avert a crisis, we need to bring emissions back down now by withdrawing from paris, trump risks disrupting this process that has been put in place, the onis treaty that will get us the right path. But if we dont bring down our emissions now, we are not going to be able to stabilize below Dangerous Levels of warming. They can formann, being with us. Asad rehman, in england, kumi naidoo from johannesburg, chair of africans rising for justice, peace, dignity. And Antonia Juhasz, stay with us, because we want to find out your latest x was a on what has been happening in north dakota around the Dakota Access pipeline. Stay with us. [music break] amy where the afro colombian residents are facing violent repression as they continue a twoweek long general strike to demand clean Drinking Water and other basic services in colombia. , im amy goodman. We look at marx was a revelations about the Dakota Access pipeline. On thursday, the very same day President Trump announced he is pulling the United States out of the landmark 2015 climate accord, oil began flowing through the 3. 8 billion pipeline. President trump greenlighted the Dakota Access pipeline, along with the keystone xl pipeline, as one of his first environmental actions in office. The pipeline had faced widespread resistance from the Standing Rock sioux tribe, hundreds of other indigenous nations from across the americas, as well as their nonnative allies. Now a new investigation by Antonia Juhasz reveals more details about how the private military contractor tigerswan carried out extensive militarystyle counterterrorism efforts targeting the indigenousled movement. Published by the news outlets grist and reveal, its headlined, Paramilitary Security tracked and targeted nodapl activists as jihadists, docs show. It exposes how tigerswan extensively surveiled water protectors across north dakota, south dakota, iowa, and illinois attempted to sow divisions , between various factions of e movement and may have even , illegally hacked into water protectors social media pages. The article also exposes how tigerswan is linked to the now defunct mercenary firm blackwater and how tigerswans , chair jim reese, a veteran of , the armys elite delta force, is now being pitched to be the next fbi director. Antonia juhasz lay out what you , uncovered in your investigation. Thank you, amy. About a month ago, someone had contacted grist with documents were daily situation reports prepared by tigerswan, a private military government contractor, that had been hired by Energy Transfer partners to provide overall security, erratically, for just the Dakota Access pipeline. We learned it was not just that. And these were reports that were prepared by tigerswan to be delivered each day to Energy Transfer partners. Grist contacted me and said, yet reported on this for us before i reported from Standing Rock for grist can you tell us what you think . We spent a lot of time digging through confirming the validity of the documents, analyzing them, and interviewing people named in them, reported upon by them, reaching out to the companies about the documents, etc. It also turned out, as you had on the show, the intercept had also received a very large group of similar documents from the exact same talking and reported upon them. We did our story just yesterday. This is shocking. As you know, i have reported from afghanistan. I have seen private military contractors. Tigerswan is a company that impact has a great deal of experience, particularly operating as a private military contractor in afghanistan and also in iraq, in war zones. It is composed of founded by retiree and imposed of many combat veterans. Thiswere hired to perform private security function by Energy Transfer partners. It was a very disturbing set of revelations in reading these daily situation reports they put out. A clearly militarized Counterintelligence Program established by tigerswan to address a domestic, younow, protest situation. And what the report showed was an intent to gather information through all sorts of means, who weree those gathered in opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline, and to try to manipulate them and to try to increase risks between them and to try to increase tension. And also in the reporting that tigerswan was doing, it was quite clear based on those i interviewed, including lawyers i interviewed, that also it seems what they were trying to do was protectors and those resisting the construction of the pipeline appear to be more dangerous than they were to inease a more stringent response by law enforcement. As was said in the title of the peace, the framework that tigerswan used was also one that seemed to be muc me years from its experience in war zones in iraq and afghanistan, referring to the water s andctors as jihadist essentially saying this as a war zone situation in treating it that way. Amy we have to wrap up this discussion, but i would like you to stay with us and we will post the continuation of the discussion, what this means for fossil fuel industry resistance, who is the founder of tigerswan jim reese and this question of whether he is being considered also theirector, and relationship between tigerswan and blackwater. We will discuss this and post it online at democracynow. Org. Antonia juhasz him a oil and energy journalist. We will link to her peace Paramilitary Security tracked and targeted nodapl activists as jihadists, docs show. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democrac [announcer] P Allen Smiths garden to table is brought to you by the berry family of nurseries growers of edibles, hardy trees and shrubs, and fresh holiday greenery. And by the makers of jobes organic fertilizer now in spikes, granular and water soluble formulas easy gardener. Com. Were getting ready for a feast of the farm coming up next. Hi, im allen smith
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