Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20150107

Against officer wilson in return for no true bill on each of the five indictments. In missouri, a member of the grand jury that declined to indict Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson for fatally shooting Michael Brown is suing for the right to speak publicly about the case. This comes as the Naacp Legal Defense Fund calls for an investigation into the grand jury proceedings. We will go to st. Louis for the latest. Then to the crackdown on journalists. By launching criminal investigations of stories that are outside the mainstream coverage, they are trying to in effect held a pathway on which journalism can be conducted. Stay on the interstate highway of conventional wisdom with your journalism, and you will have no problems. Try to get off and challenge basic assumptions, annual face punishment. New york times Investigative Reporter james risen appeared in court monday and refused to answer questions about an alleged source ahead of the trial of former cia officer jeffrey sterling. We will speak to his colleague , matt apuzzo. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. At least 12 people have been killed in a shooting attack on a french satirical magazine in paris. Witnesses say masked gunmen enter the offices of the magazine Charlie Hebdo and opened fire. Charlie hebdo has drawn multiple threats for its characters of the prophet mohammed. In 2012, the magazines cartoon depicting mohammed in pornographic poses helped spark protests across the middle east. The outcry forced france to close embassies and other official sites in 20 countries. Charlie hebdo has repeatedly claimed it publishes the cartoons as a defender of Free Expression and against religious extremism. Speaking at the scene of the attack, french president Francois Holland said barbaric people had carried out an attack on free speech. We will have more later in the broadcast. The new Republicancontrolled Congress has begun with immediate salvos over the keystone xl pipeline. On the first day of the 114th congress, republican senator john hoeven of north dakota introduced a measure to approve construction of the project that would move Canadian Tar Sands Oil to the gulf coast. But White House Press secretary josh earnest immediately announced president obama would veto the keystone bill if it crosses his desk. I would not anticipate the president will sign the legislation. We have indicated the president would veto similar legislation that was because it are by the previous congress, and our position has not changed. Theres a wellestablished process that should not be undermined by legislation. Even if the bill passes and obama ends up using the veto republicans have vowed to make keystone a top priority in their newfound control of congress. Their next step could be to attach keystones approval to a wider bill containing measures obama supports. The white house says president obama continues to await a state Department Review and a Nebraska Court ruling on the keystone xls route. In recent public comments, obama has voiced increasing skepticism of the keystone xl, questioning its benefit to most americans as well as its impact on the climate. Environmentalists have praised obamas veto threat. In a statement, the Rainforest Action Network said this is a testament to the dedication and resolve of millions of grassroots activists who have for years fought to stop this pipeline, against all odds. The center for biological diversity added its encouraging to see president obama stand up to the bullies in congress who want to ram this project through, heres hoping this is his first step toward killing this project once and for all. As republicans caught their first glimpse of a showdown with president obama in the new congress, they were also locked in an internal struggle of their own. Just after lawmakers were sworn in, House Speaker john boehner defeated an attempt from dissident republicans to oust him from his post. Two dozen republicans voted against boehners speakership while one abstained, the highest number from a speakers own party in decades. Congressmembers Louie Gohmert of texas and ted yoho of florida led the challenge. In response to the failed ouster, boehner retaliated by removing several lawmakers who opposed him from influential house committees. Meanwhile in the senate, 34 senators were sworn in, 13 of them for the first time. Republican senator Mitch Mcconnell assumed the job of Senate Majority leader. An important day for our country. Many senators took the oath this afternoon. 13, for the first time. And a new republican majority accepted its new responsibility. We recognized the enormity of the task before us. We know a lot of hard work awaits. We know many important opportunities await as well. Im really optimistic about what we can accomplish. In its first vote, the house approved a major rule change that could make it easier for them to advance tax cuts for the wealthy. The passage of socalled dynamic scoring, will force congressional statisticians to alter how they calculate the costs of major tax and budget bills. The joint committee on taxation and the Congressional Budget Office will now have to weigh the anticipated revenue from potential Economic Growth that could result from legislation. Democrats have denounced the effort as voodoo economics that will hide the actual costs of tax cuts that republicans want to pass. In virginia, former republican governor Bob Mcdonnell has been sentenced to two years in prison following his conviction last year on corruption charges. Mcdonnell and his wife were found guilty of receiving more than 140,000 in exchange for promoting the donors products and providing other favors. Mcdonnells twoyear prison sentence is far less than the minimum of ten years recommended by the federal probation office. Speaking outside the courtroom former governor mcdonnell said he regrets his actions, but then announced he would appeal. As i said in court i am a fallen human being. Ive made mistakes in my life. I was try to put the best interests of the people first as governor but i have failed at times and some of the judgments that i have made during the course of my governorship have hurt myself, my family, and my beloved people of virginia. For that, im deeply, deeply sorry. I also want to say that i am disagreeing with the verdict that was rendered by the jury in this case, and we intend to file our appeal to the United States Fourth Circuit court of appeals it are later today either later today or in the morning. Mcdonnell was initially offered a plea bargain, but opted instead to go to trial. His Defense Strategy largely entailed placing the blame on his wife maureen, who as a nonpublic official could not , have been convicted of corruption charges on her own. Maureen mcdonnell will be sentenced next month. Bob mcdonnell has been ordered to report to prison by february 9. A gunman has opened fire at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in el paso, texas, killing a doctor before turning the gun on himself. The shooting sparked an hourlong lockdown at the facility. No details about the gunman or the victims have been released so far. The fbi says its investigating a deliberate explosion outside the colorado headquarters of the naacp, one of the nations most prominent civil Rights Groups. An improvised explosive device was detonated on the naacp buildings wall in Colorado Springs tuesday morning. A gasoline can had been placed nearby did not ignite. No one was wounded in the attack. Authorities say theyre searching for a person of interest in the case, described as a male in his 40s. Transit authorities in new york city have banned the Grand Central station. Activists lie down on the ground as if they are dead. The protests have occurred every night at Grand Central since the grand jury chose not to indict a new york Police Officer for the killing of eric garner in a band chokehold. The metropolitan Transportation Authority says it will begin enforcing rules that bar people from lying on the ground inside Grand Central. The diein protests continued on tuesday with a vigil inside the terminal. Around 40 people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a car bombing in yemens capital. A suicide bomber driving a minibus apparently targeted a Police Academy field with students and recruits. The attack appears to be the latest by al qaeda fighters against houthi shiite fighters. President obama hosted mexican president intricate pending at the tuesday the white house pena nieto tuesday. He praised president obamas executive action on immigration will president obama said he backed mexicos drug war. Our mission is to be a friend and supporter of mexico and its efforts to eliminate the scourge of violence [laughter] [applause] [indiscernible] outside of the white house, a group of demonstrators gathered to call on the u. S. To cut funding to mexico over its failure to investigate and prosecute abuses by state security forces. The cuban intelligence agent freed by the u. S. Last month and his wife have welcomed a baby girl who was conceived during his time in prison. Her art of hernandez, the father, is one of the three former cuban intelligence agents released as part of a prisoner swap links to growing ties with cuba, one of the cuban five. While he was not allowed conjugal visits, hernandez was able to impregnate his wife by having his frozens berm frozen sperm transferred her animal. It was authorized to use officials and facilitated by a staffer for for my senator patrick leahy. Some have called it the diplomaculate conception. The baby was born on tuesday. And those are some of the headlines, this is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. At least 12 people have been killed in a shooting attack on a french satirical magazine in paris. Witnesses say masked gunmen entered the offices of the magazine Charlie Hebdo and opened fire. According to the press, two of the dead are Police Officers. Major Police Operations underway in paris or in the paris area to catch the perpetrators. In 2012, Charlie Hebdo cartoon depicting mohamed and pornographic poses helps sparked protests across the middle east. The outcry forced grants to close in disease and phrase to close embassies. Charlie hebdo claims it publishes the cartoons as against religious extremism. Speaking at the scene, french president Francois Holland said barbaric people had carried out an attack on free speech. Were joined now by two guests. Robert mahoney is the Deputy Director of the committee to protect journalists and tariq ali is with us. Lets go first to robert. What do you know about what has taken place at this point, robert . At this point, french media is reporting to masked gunmen attacked the magazine in the heart of paris, opened fire. We know officially at least two policemen were killed, but now were getting reports up to four journalists at Charlie Hebdo were killed, including some of their most famous cartoonists. Robert mahoney, in terms of attacks on journalists in europe , this has to be the worst of its kind, but could you talk about the climate generally . This is unprecedented. Charlie hebdo has been a trouble before. It was firebombed back in 2011 after it published a spoof edition, which is said was guest edited by the prophet mohammed. It has angered sections of the Islamic Committee in france and beyond. I can 2006, you may remember the cartoon to the prophet mohammed that were published in denmark the Charlie Hebdo reprinted those cartoons. For the last six years or so, it has been in the forefront over battle of the freedom of expression with certain sections of islamist groups. Tariq ali you are in london right now. This is all unfolding as we speak. Can you talk about the significance of what has happened so far . Again, 12 people shot dead so for in the offices of Charlie Hebdo. I have just been in touch with friends and france. Basically, they say one of the journalists killed is a longstanding cartoonist of Charlie Hebdo. He is someone who has been active in this magazine for many, many years. And there is no doubt that he was deliberately targeted by the assassins. Who went to hit him. The other thing that has been pointed out is that yesterday the magazine had a tweet which mocked the caliph, the leader of the Islamic State isis, and that could be another reason. Now, there are two things that are worth pointing out. A, the attacks on the profit on but, prophet mohammed, which when they mimic the danish magazine it has been pointed out, did cause a lot of offense to muslim believers all over the world. And when asked, the danish magazine effectively has said that no, they would not have published similar attacks against moses, regardless of what israel was doing in palestine. This angered people even further. In the question was then post, well, why target the prophet of islam when you do not and could not target or do not wish to target moses for all the mayhem that is going on in palestine . To which the was no reply. So there is a feeling effectively that im sure youre going to be getting a lot of calls, but us keep going. There was some anger at this targeting that is taking place. Of course, i emphasize that nothing justifies attacks of this sort on either these are any other journalists. They can be combated verbally and with cartoons, etc. , but this sort of killing, which started with Salman Rushdies neck some to and doesnt do the islamic religion as a whole any favors. Atmosphere of islamophobia in parts of europe. We had big demonstrations in your many by islamophobies. The wellknown french rightwing novelist will back has just published a new novel in which the central fact is a 2020, france will have a muslim president. From the other side, the publisher of the french investigative online magazine media, has written a book attacking and announcing islamophobia very strongly. It is an ugly atmosphere of parts of europe, and this will play into it. And it just creates tariq, what has been the response of government leaders in france, germany, and britain to this rise of antiimmigrant and antimuslim sentiment across the continent . Well, the german chancellor angela merkel, to her credit, two days ago denounced these demonstrations and said targeting ethnic minorities is unacceptable. She met, of course, in germany. But to this normally regarded as a rightwing newspaper, the largest in germany, has also published a public attack on the right and far right for carrying out these demonstrations targeting muslims and published a letter signed by 50 top logicians and intellectuals, including former chancellor schmidt, saying the sort of behavior is unacceptable. So the German Government has come out relatively well on this. In france, it is not exactly the same. You have a lot of islamophobia with politicians and the far right. You have mainstream politicians pandering to this and saying yes, there is a problem. In britain, theres a big debate now going on an immigration. Not on islam, it has to be said, but on immigration targeting migrants and thinking that are too many migrants here. Again, started by the far right and again, those pandering to it are people from the mainstream political parties. Can you give us, robert, a history of the kind of attacks on outlets, newspapers magazines that have published cartoons of the prophet mohammed . If you go back to 2006, with the first attacks can you come directly onto the telephone . We are having a problem hearing you. I said the first attacks were against [indiscernible] let me go back to tariq because were having a problem hearing you. Tariq, let me put that question to you. If you can give people a sense of the history of these kinds of attacks. The first big attacks came in the danish paper, a rightwing conservative paper, which as many of my danish friends pointed out at the time, during the second world war, had been closely allied to the third reich and the nazis. And that this nace paper newspaper was leading this particular form of struggles supposedly for free speech, but effectively, targeting islam the islamic religion and its profit. This then became a big freespeech issue and was mimicked elsewhere including by Charlie Hebdo and france. The more cynical people in france said the Charlie Hebdo circulation was failing, going down, and they needed to revive it and the best way to revive it was of course by becoming campaigners of free speech and publishing provocative attacks on islam as such. So they, of course, denied it and it became a big freespeech issue. And many people said it was two forms of fundamentalism fighting each other. A, a tiny group of islamic brenneman lists targeting these fundamentalists targeting these, and b, trying to provoke and anger people in general and that neither was doing anyone a favor. Tariq ali and Robert Mahoney thank you for being with us. We will continue to bring people the latest as we learn it. At this point what we know is 12 people have been killed, shot dead in the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdos offices. They have recently published cartoons of the prophet mohammed. 10 journalists and two police, we believe, reuters reporting others have been critically injured. This is in paris, france. Tariq ali is the british pakistani political commentator so maker, novelist, editor of the new left review and Robert Mahoney is Deputy Director of the committee to protect journalists. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. When we come back, we will talk about the ferguson grand jury and a grandeur who wants to speak out. If a grandeur in missouri speaks out, the person could play face up to a year in prison. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Our top story, 12 dead in the offices of a french satirical magazine. They were shot dead. They had recently published cartoons of the prophet mohammed. In our next segment, were going to talk about a ferguson grand juror who would like to speak out, but right now, juan. We turn to freedom of the press case we are followed closely. New york Investigative Reporter james risen was called to the witness stand monday after a sevenyear legal battle against the governments attempts to subpoena him and force him to reveal his source. The hearing in virginia took place ahead of the trial of former cia officer jeffrey sterling, who is accused of giving risen classified information which revealed a botched cia plot to disrupt Irans Nuclear program. It is unclear yet if risen will be called to testify at sterlings trial. Without more information from risen, sterlings defense attorney argues the case should be dismissed. In a minute, well get an update from New York Times reporter matt apuzzo, who was in the courtroom when risen testified. But first, this is a clip of a speech apuzzo cites in his news account of the hearing of risen in his own words, speaking about press freedom under obama as he accepted the lovejoy award at colby college. By launching criminal investigations of stories that are outside the mainstream coverage, they are trying to and affect build a pathway on which journalism can be conducted. Stay on interstate highway of conventional wisdom with your journalism, and you will have no problems. Try to get often challenge basic assumptions, and you will face punishment. Journalists have no choice but to fight back. Because if they dont, they will become irrelevant. New york times Investigative Reporter james risen speaking in october. Well, for more, we go to washington, d. C. To speak with matt apuzzo, another New York Times Investigative Reporter who covers National Security. During his time with the associated press, apuzzo and adam goldman won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the nypds muslim surveillance program. The department of justice opened three separate investigations into leaks related to their reports. Apuzzo was in the courtroom monday when james risen testified and wrote about it in a piece headlined, defiant on witness stand, times reporter says little. Matt welcome back to democracy , now describe the scene in the courtroom and what you remember james risen saying. It was a tense moment, you know, jim took the stand reluctantly, has been fighting this for about seven years trying to stay off the stand. He took this fight to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court declined to hear it, so he was under orderes to testify. Very weirdly at the last minute, under pressure from journalist groups and civil Rights Groups the attorney general eric holder made a decision and said that his prosecutors were not going to force risen to give up his source. And so the questioning was really weird. It was sort of like, if i ask you if source was, what would you say . Of course he said, i would not say it. So it was this weird dance were the government was basically trying to say, did you have a confidential source . Did you promise a source confidentiality . Was just trying to nibble around the edges. A lot of those questions come almost all of the questions, risen had answered in an affidavit years ago saying, this is a confidential source arrangement i have had and im not going to give up any information. But even that basic information was sort of like pulling teeth with jim on the stand. So what does this mean in terms of sterlings actual trial . Was it your sense that risen will be called as a witness in the trial . It is hard to say. I dont totally understand what the government gets from having jim on the stand, but of course, i dont see the whole case so i dont know what it is hard for me to see the value at this stage, which is not unusual. I suppose there is value for him helping them kind of bolster the circumstantial case. He can say, yes, i interviewed jeffrey sterling on the record for this 2002 story and related to this case. Really, establishing he knew sterling and saying, yes, i have these Confidential Sources for chapter nine of my book and then the government introduces the sort of electronic records, the phone records, email records that shows the recontact around that time. I suppose in that case, rise ns testament bolsters the case. But it has no evidence that sterling was the one who gave up this information. Simply saying they talk to each other does not prove anything. It is quite possible the defense will call him. He testified at the culinary hearing he had multiple sources culinary hearing he at multiple sources. Acted be help full for sterling. He could be testifying as a defense witness. Speaking on democracy now a few months ago, jim risen express the importance of covenantal sources for a free press. Without aggressive investigative reporting, we cannot really have a democracy. The only real oversight for the government is an independent press. I think that is what the government really fears more than anything else is that an aggressive investigative reporting in which we shine a light on what is going on inside the government. You cant do that without maintaining confidentiality of sources. That was jim risen on democracy now in court on monday, he said im not going to provide the government with information they seem to want use to create a mosaic to prove or disprove certain facts. Matt, can you take our listeners and viewers back to why exactly jim risen has been pursued for seven years, beginning with the george w. Bush administration and then to his shock, right through the two Obama Administrations . Sure. I think this really starts around the time that risen and eric westbound reported in the times and in jims book about the nsas wireless wiretap program. Obviously, that spurned a large investigation. The government was clearly looking further sources in that story in early 2006. I think that may have morphed into this case where now theyre looking at this chapter nine where risen writes in his book about this botched cia operation where the cia gave nuclear schematics to iran that they had introduced design flaws to in hopes of setting back the nuclear program, but jims book revealed these flaws were easily spot abu and iran probably just worked right around them spot abu and iran worked just right around them. Theres this big leak investigation and john rizzos book. He has this amazing scene where he describes or the cia in the white house finally see risens book and it is new years eve and their desperate to figure out how they can stop it from hitting the shelves, how they can stop state of war from hitting the shelves. Theyre working all night. Can we get all the talks recalled books recalled . The book comes out and there is a big leak investigation. Ultimately, they focus on jeffrey sterling who the cia officer involved in this iran program and risen has been fighting to get the government has been trying to put them on the stand for years. First, through general mckay c and ultimately, through attorney general holder, theyre been trying to put them on the stand for years. He is been fighting for seven years. What about dr. Jekyll mr. Hyde personality of the Obama Administration . On the one hand, saying theyre not going to jail journalists, but on the other hand, a constant crackdown on whistleblowers, a key ingredient for any investigative journalist . And their attempt to go after the sources of reports . Two things to take from that. One, this is clearly a course correction for eric holder. I mean, there are more leak investigations, more prosecutions than all other administrations combined. But now as sort of the tenure is winding down and there is been as kind of blowback and the kind of criticism he has gotten from civil Rights Groups, you know, people who would traditionally be his strongest supporters from journalist groups, i think you sort of saying, namely we went too far. He has said, maybe we have gone too far. Every written guidelines for subpoena in journalists, rewritten the guidelines for when you take the phone records as they did in our case. He said one of his biggest regret of his tenure was labeling james rosen as a coconspirator for asking a state Department Contractor about classified information. That was very that was a startling thing forever reporter to see, the idea that just asking somebody about National Security makes you potentially criminal. There is tension. His prosecutors say we cannot win this case against wrongs we dont put risen on the stand. So holder is trying to say, ok, you can subpoena him, but you cannot put them in a position where he would be in contempt of court stop and you cant get him thrown in jail. Who knows how this will play out in trial. Matt, you worked for the associated press, where he wanted to pill it surprise before working for the times, and in 2013, the ap reported the department of justice to grilli obtained a trove of journalists phone records in what the chief executive called a massive and unprecedented intrusion, seizing the records for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters in new york, washington, hartford including you. Can you talk more about that and what it meant for reporting in this country . Sure. This was based off a story that i wrote with adam goldman and eileen sullivan, and our phone records were seized along with the general phone number to the washington bureau. My old phone number in hartford, which i had not used in probably eight years at that point. We found out about it months later. It was an email notice. Hey, by the way, we seized on your phone records. Cell phone records home records come home from the its from a editor, my cell phone records, adams cell phone records others at the ap. It was a real startling moments. I think the aps lawyers and aps executives responded really well. What could we do . You cannot say unsee my phone records, give them back. They have already mind the phone records. That was a real watershed moment i think in this debate over the reach of the government into the fourth estate. Eric holder, the attorney general right now and his relationship with journalists as he is shaking his legacy, already announcing his departure . This is certainly going to be a part of his legacy, probably one he said he thinks is not necessarily proud of. It is interesting because i wrote a story about him when he announced he was leaving. We talked about his civil rights legacy in civil Rights Groups have universally said he has done an amazing job on his Traditional Democratic liberal civil rights issues. But at the same time, has a lot of supporters on the left really scratching her heads on why he was not better on Civil Liberties. In the National Security realm but privacy for state secrets journalists. So that is really part of as you said, jekyll and hyde is one way to say it. It really, sort of the complex nature of eric holder as an attorney general. Matt apuzzo, thank you for being with us, a New York Times reporter. He was in the courtroom monday when james risen testified and wrote about it in a piece headlined, defiant on witness stand, times reporter says little. We will link to that at democracynow. Org. As we move from Civil Liberties to civil rights, we will go to missouri to talk about a grand juror who wants to speak out but faces a year in prison if the grand juror speaks out. We was be to their lawyers. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. We turn now to missouri where a member of the grand jury that declined to indict Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson for fatally shooting unarmed African American Michael Brown is suing for the right to speak publicly about the case. The lawsuit accuses prosecuting attorney Bob Mcculloch of presenting possible charges to the grand jury in a muddled and untimely manner, and notes the case had a stronger focus on the victim Michael Brown than other cases. It also challenges the implication that all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges against wilson. The juror is challenging a lifetime ban preventing grand jury members from discussing cases. The grand juror has been identified only as a st. Louis county resident and is being represented by the american Civil Liberties union. Meanwhile, several missouri residents have filed a bar complaint against prosecuting attorney Bob Mcculloch and assistant prosecuting attorneys in the handling of the grand jury. According to the complaint they violated 15 missouri rules of professional conduct. This comes as the naacp has asked a missouri judge to convene a new grand jury to consider charges against officer Darren Wilson. On monday, the naacps Legal Defense and Educational Fund submitted a letter to st. Louis county circuit judge Maura Mcshane requesting an investigation into the grand jury proceedings that led to the decision not to indict wilson. We go to kansas city where were joined by tony rothert, the legal director of the american Civil Liberties union of missouri. He is the attorney for the grand juror who is challenging missouris grand jury secrecy law. Welcome to democracy now can you lay out for us the law in missouri that dictates what a grand juror can or cannot do especially in light of the fact the prosecutor can speak out all he wants, talking about Bob Mcculloch . Right. The law in missouri is the same as it is in most states. Grand jurors are not allowed to speak at all not about the evidence that they heard there are opinions about the evidence, or the Legal Counsel the received from the state. And usually prosecutors dont speak about what happens in a grand jury either. At least, not in great detail. This is an unusual case in that the prosecutor purports to have been transparent, to have released all the evidence, and to have really saw the transcripts of the hearings before the grand jury, and also the prosecutor has spoken quite a bit about what the grand jurors thought, that particular evidence and overall. And yet the grand jurors themselves, delhi people that could contradict the prosecutors story he is putting out there, the government line on this, are forever banned from speaking. In addition to that, the prosecutor has admitted he knowingly put before the grand jurors witnesses he believed were not telling the truth or suspected were not telling the truth. Extraordinary admission is seems to me for prosecutor. From what you have seen of the released minutes, what questions does your client have about the Public Record versus what actually happened in the grand jury . Well, i think the biggest thing that our client one of the bigger things is that the contrast in how this grand jury proceeding was from other grand jury proceedings. This grand jury has been together for several months and heard hundreds of cases. They usually lasted 10 or 15 minutes. There are many ways in which the Darren Wilson investigation was completely different. Not only that it took longer not only to prosecutors put on witnesses they did not believe were telling the truth, but also how the grand jury was instructed about the law which is, ultimately, very important to what their decision is. I want to ask exactly what happened during the grand jury proceedings. According to the released grand jury documents, assistant District Attorney Kathy Alizadeh said to the jurors i know this is different than other cases because normally when weve charged somebody with an offense, you have the charge in front of you, you can read what the charge is, you can read what maybe the elements are and you dont have that in this case. Tony rothert, could you explain the significance of this . So normally, even from the records we have, we know when the grand jury before they start hearing evidence, they know what theyre looking at. They know what the elements of the crime are so they know what they need to match up to return an indictment. Here, looks like the grand jury is left in the dark. They were not told what the law was until the very end. And in some respects, with regarding selfdefense, they were told about unconstitutional missouri law. It just wasnt clear to the grand jury, i dont believe what the law was and what indictments they could return and what evidence they would need to know. Tony rothert, if the grand juror spoke out, we dont know if it is a man or woman, with a face a year in prison . Right. This person came to us originally with an interest in speaking out and wondering what would happen to me if i did this. And i think it is troubling just before the prosecuting attorney when out and gave an hourlong press conference detailing what the grand jury did, the grand jurors were handed copies of the missouri laws that make it a misdemeanor offense to speak out about anything that happened as part of the grand jury. These folks are afraid, reasonably so, i think, to speak out. Also, just because it is a peculiar situation, the person who they might contradict his Bob Mcculloch the prosecuting attorney who would also be the person who has the discretion to decide whether or not to charge them with violating the grand jury secrecy laws. Tony rothert, we will suddenly continue to follow this , legal director of the amerco Civil Liberties union desert the attorney for the grand juror who is challenging missouris grand jury secrecy law. Speaking to us from kansas city, missouri. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. New york city on tuesday, hundreds attended the funeral for former three term democratic new york governor mario cuomo including president bill clinton and former secretary of state larry clinton. Cuomo died new years day at the age of 82. He was known for supporting abortion rights, despite his catholic faith and opposing the , Death Penalty, among other causes, although he also expanded the states prison system. Mario cuomo is the father of the current new york governor, andrew cuomo, who delivered the eulogy at the church of st. Ignatius loyola. At his core, at his best, he was a philosopher and he was a poet and he was an advocate and he was a crusader. Mario cuomo was the keynote speaker for our better angels. I any measure, mario cuomos voice inspired generations. His government initiatives helped millions live better lives. He left the world a better place than he found it. His list of a congressmans goes on and on accomplishments goes on and on, pointing the first africanamerican hispanic judge to the court of appeals, the first two females, his liberty scholarship programs, his pioneering Child Health Insurance program, leader in aids treatment and research. New york is a better state thanks to mario cuomo. Thats new york governor andrew cuomo. His father, mario cuomo is often remembered for his speeches, including his 1984 address at the Democratic National convention, when he challenged president Ronald Reagans description of the United States as a shining city on a hill. This is a clip. You what to know that this nation is more a tale of two cities than it is just a shining city on a hill. Maybe, mr. President , if you stopped in at the shelter in chicago and spoke to the homeless there maybe, mr. President , if he asked a woman who have been denied the help she needed to feed her short of because you said you needed the money for a tax rbreak for million our missile we cannot afford to use. That was mario cuomo giving his 1984 address at the Democratic National convention. Well, juan, you attended his wake and i want to the end of the funeral. You write about him in your column in todays new york daily news. In a nutshell, what people were saying . Cuomo was not only a silver tongue order and a philosopher in many ways as a government leader, he was also very much a friend of the working class and of the labor movement. 25 years ago, i was fired as a columnist at the daily when 2500 rs when out on strike against the daily news when 2500 of us when out on strike. He defended the striking news workers along with Cardinal Oconnor and really turn the tide in the public sentiment to eventually allow us to be able to win that strike in the tribune, due to sell the paper to another owner. He wasnt afraid to stand up for his principles, whether it was against the Death Penalty or in favor of a womans right to choose or to stand up for the striking workers at the daily news. I think that is part of his legacy that has to be remembered along with building more prisons than any governor in the history of the state. Interestingly, i believe he appointed a special prosecutor in a very racially charged case, the howard beach case. And the death of michael griffin. Interestingly, his son, governor cuomo, had that opportunity in the case of eric garner, but did not take it. And there obviously marked differences between the father and the sun, although, they share a lot of the same combative approaches to government, but i think cuomo was more of a statesman, i think, than his son is. Were going to turn now by the way, we will link to ju ans column, but we have to return to the top story of the day. The killing of at least 12 people in the shooting attack on a french satirical magazine in paris. Witnesses say masked gunmen entered the offices of the magazine Charlie Hebdo and opened fire with automatic weapons. The dead reportedly include four cartoonist and tito Police Officers. Major Police Operation is underway in the paris area to catch the killers. The magazine Charlie Hebdo has on multiple threats for its characters of the prophet mohammed. The cartoon depicting mohammed a pornographic poses hopes spark protests across the middle east. Her more we are joined right now by tariq ali, the author of a number of influential books on islam in europe. Can you respond to these developed in paris . It looks like at least 12 people dead, number injured in this shooting attack on his satirical magazine satirical newspapers offices, tariq ali . First, we have to condemn what has been done and what is happening paris. Were told what they said is the prophet of islam, it is revenge and this is just a betrayal of our religion and our principles. That is not acceptable in my sympathy goes for the families and the victims. And whatever happened with the journalists, the journalist to was killed apparently, i dont know if this has been confirmed, is somewhat debated in prime time tv and france. I do not agree with him and he was quite offensive in the way he was talking about islam. The only thing we have to say, we need to be involved in critical dialogue and discussions about what is happening in france and elsewhere in europe, but by any standard, we have to condemn what was done and say clearly this is betraying our principles, our religion, and everything we stand for. Tariq ramadan, have you been able to tell from her ports that anyone has crammed responsibility for the attack . So far, the ali thing we know is that they talked about islam. They were talking about the prophet and they say this is revenge. They are connecting this to satirical journal or magazine was doing. This is the only thing i have heard so far. But once again, there is quite clearly a connection that was done by the people who did this when they were leaving. And this is why it is quite clear Charlie Hebdo was known for a series of controversial publications over the last two or three years, and i think the connection is quite clear. This is why we have to be clear as much as is needed to be. What do you think is most important to understand right now . Durbin a series of attacks on journalists and newspapers that have parodied or have caricatured the prophet mohammed in this latest attack, this is the clearly, the biggest attack that is ever taken place. Once again, we know what happened. Some of the slogans and some of the statements coming from people like the socalled Islamic State in iraq and syria they are using some of the controversial issues around the world and targeting journalists are targeting intellectuals trying to focus on some of the sensitive issues in specific countries. So this is muslims, but also western muslims, we have to be quite clear on the fact the critical discussion that is now necessary in our western society , be it in the states or in france we have to be involved. We have to make it clear there should be no confusion, islam a phobia islam a phobia, it is only in the critical debate, only the trends were not society against any type of racism, that were going to resist and reform the minds and hearts of our fellow citizens. It could never be accepted never be supported such actions that are now instrumental the frustrations we have in the west as to equal citizenship and racism, and using this to support what is in fact not acceptable and has to be condemned. So there is a danger here for us to see some of tariq ramadan, we have to leave it there, but i hope youll join us tomorrow, professor at oxford. Author of a number of influential books on islam and europe. Was stand by time as one of the most important innovators of the 21st century. [captioning made possible by democracy now ]enaoao d perhaps even shock you. Not so long ago, in many of the worlds poorer countries, hunger was the Headline Health concern. Estimates put the number of malnourished at 700 million, and obese mainly in rich countries at 100 million