Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20151104

We will look at Election Results across the country as ohio says no to legalize marijuana, voters in houston reject a measure to bar lgbt discrimination, and airbnb scores a victory in San Francisco. Then to banning the box. The federal government, i believe, should not use criminal history to screen out applicants before we even look at the qualifications. We can dismiss people out of handsomely because they made a mistake in the past. Amy president obama announces a stearic series of steps to help former prisoners readjust to society as the Justice Department freeze 6000 inmates jailed on drug charges in the largest onetime release of federal prisoners. One third of those prisoners are expected to soon be deported. We will speak with two former prisoners on the difficulty of transitioning back to freedom. The Pulitzer Prize winner New York Times reporter charlie savage. All of that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Tuesday was no election day the United States as voters decided Ballot Initiatives and elected city and state leaders. In one of the most closely watched races, to Party Favorite matt bevin won the governors race in kentucky, becoming just the second republican to hold the post in more than 40 years. In houston, texas, voters repealed a City Council Measure barring dissemination over factors including Sexual Orientation and gender identity. In ohio, voters rejected a measure that would have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational use. Many legalization advocates ended up opposing the effort because it called for getting wealthy investors who funded the campaign the exclusive rights to growing commercial marijuana in ohio. In San Francisco, voters rejected a measure to limit shortterm rentals which would have restricted the website airbnb. More local and state elections after the headlines. Wartorn yemen has been battered by a tropical cyclone, marking the first time in recorded history a Tropical Storm has ever made landfall in yemen. Parts of yemen saw as much rain in 24 hours as they usually see over the course of several years. The port city of mukalla, controlled by alqaeda militants has been particularly hard hit , by flooding. Scientists have warned of a link between stronger Tropical Storms and climate change. Newly disclosed data shows china has been burning up to 17 more coal than the Chinese Government previously reported. The news comes just weeks before international negotiators meet in paris to try to reach an agreement to address climate change. Democracy now will be broadcasting from the Climate Summit for the full two weeks. The leaders of china and taiwan will hold an historic meeting in singapore saturday, marking the first such talks ends the chinese civil war 66 years ago. Defeated by the communists in 1949, the chinese nationalists fled to taiwan and set up their own government. China still considers taiwan a breakaway province. The Obama Administration says it will continue its review of the keystone xl despite a request to halt thenada process. On monday, transcanada told the state department it wants to wait until nebraska, a state along the pipelines route, gives its approval. But critics say transcanada is trying to buy time until obama leaves office, since hes expected to reject the pipeline. State Department Spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said the review will continue. Transcanada has not withdrawn their permit application. In a letter to secretary kerry, the requested a pause in the review process. We have received their letter to secretary kerry and are in the process of sending a response. Our review process is ongoing. So at this stage, we have received the letter. We will issue a response, but were going to continue our review process. Amy reports have emerged rebel groups in syria are placing detained soldiers and civilians in cages to use as shields against Syrian Government attacks in eastern ghouta. Video footage appears to show a number of people in cages being transported by trucks. The syrian observatory for human rights has accused the armed group Jaysh Alislam of being behind the actions. Doctors without borders has marked one month since the United States bombed its hospital in kunduz, afghanistan, killing at least 30 people. The pentagon has still not issued a longdelayed preliminary report on the attack. Hundreds of people gathered in geneva tuesday to pay tribute to the victims and continue the call for an independent probe. Doctors without borders president joanne liu said the bombing cannot be allowed to pass as a nonevent. The thing we need to remember, we need to tell the world it is completely abnormal. We need to normalize such an event. If we allow this to be a nonevent, it is giving a blank check to all the countries at war in the world to say, do whatever you why and, and you know what . We dont think that hospitals are protected space anymore. This is not what we want. The message today is, we believe the last patch of humanity there is in the chaos of war is the hospital. Amy the president of the maldives has declared a state of emergency, giving sweeping powers to Security Forces ahead of an opposition rally planned by the party of jailed former president mohamed nasheed. Nasheed was the maldives first democratically elected president , known internationally for his work on climate change. He was ousted in 2012 in what he called an armed coup by supporters of his predecessor, Maumoon Abdul gayoom. Nasheed is now serving a 13year sentence for ordering the arrest of a judge appointed by gayoom. The current president is gayooms halfbrother. Volkswagens emissions cheating scandal is widening. The company has acknowledged it understated Carbon Dioxide emissions for about 800,000 vehicles sold in europe. The announcement comes after u. S. Regulators accused volkswagen of installing devices in dieselpowered vehicles to increase nitrogenoxide emissions up to nine times the allowable levels. Volkswagen has already recalled millions of cars across europe. Meanwhile, honda has cut ties with japanese airbag maker after u. S. Regulators find takata 70 million by u. S. Regulators tuesday. Takata airbag inflators have been linked to at least eight deaths. The airbags have exploded, shooting out metal fragments. Hundreds of refugees and migrants are now on Hunger Strike at the allwomen t. Don hutton Detention Center in austin, texas. The vast majority of the women are Asylum Seekers fleeing violence in central america. They are demanded an end to abusive treatment and their immediate release. A new study finds the death rate for white, middleaged americans is rising, even as it declines among other groups. The spike appears to have particularly impacted people who lack a college education. Princeton economists angus deaton and anne case said the deaths appear to be the result of an epidemic of suicides, heroin and painkiller overdoses and alcoholic liver disease. Two Police Officers in st. Louis, missouri, will not Face Criminal Charges for killing an africanamerican last year. Kajieme powell was accused of stealing Energy Drinks and donuts from a convenience store. Cellphone video appears to show police shot him within 20 seconds of arriving at the scene. He appears to have a night in his hand. The st. Louis prosecutor said officers Nicholas Shelton and ellis brown acted in selfdefense. How was shot 10 days after the Police Killing of Michael Brown in nearby ferguson. Meanwhile, scrutiny is growing over the response by Colorado Springs police to a man who ended up fatally shooting three people on saturday. That morning, naomi bettis called 911 to report seeing her neighbor with a rifle. But the dispatcher reportedly told bettis about colorados open carry law, which allows guns to be carried in public. A Police Official told mother jones magazine the call was not given the highest priority. When bettis called back, her neighbor, noah harpham, had opened fire. He killed three people before Police Killed him. Critics have drawn comparisons between the Police Response to harpham, who is white, to the killings of tamir rice and john crawford, also an open carry state in ohio. Crawford was handling and unloaded bb gun in a walmart where it was on sale. , tamir rice was playing with a toy gun in a park. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Amy before we begin with the Election Results around the country, puerto rico is in the news with a major march happening tomorrow. The i wrote a piece in daily news today talking about this massive march that will occur in puerto rico tomorrow, basically, around the discriminatory practices of medicaid and medicare and its funding for puerto rico. What is unusual, both the governor of new york andrew cuomo and the mayor of new york bill de blasio will be going to send want tomorrow, participating in the march. Theres also an annual conference of latino elected officials in san juan their attending, but the idea the mayor and the governor will be participating in a march against the federal government in its treatment of puerto rico is really unusual. The governor is also working with puerto rico to try to produce a medicaid waiver that would allow at least 1 billion more from the federal government to go to puerto rico. The reality is the Health Crisis in puerto rico is as severe, if not more severe, then the debt crisis with over 300 doctors fleeing the island last year, with the Health Care System near collapse because of the unequal reimbursements. For instance, medicaid does not pay for nursing home care or for longterm care and puerto rico. So if anyone has to go into a nursing home or has to be cared for, families have to pay for it out of their pockets. You have hospital weight situation wait where most of the Paper Private nurses because there are not sufficient nurses and hospital staffs to properly care for them. Puerto rico has been historically getting about 50 of its cost in health care whereas new york state, for instance, gets 50 from medicaid. For states like is the city get 80 . The result is, about 20 billion of the 72 the 20 billion of the 72 billion debt specifically to borrow funds to be able to pay its health care costs. That is why this huge march about the Health Care System and puerto rico will be so important in the coming days. Amy and we will be playing part of our thanksgiving day specials, your speech, this major address you gave at New York University on the puerto rico debt crisis, but going to the context, Historical Context of colonialism in the United States. Juan which is accelerating because the puerto rican government has announced starting next week that will be cutting hours of all government workers. By the end of this month, they will run out of money to be able to paper normal expenses, not to mention their debt. This will accelerate in the next few weeks. Amy and out to the National State and local elections around the country. Juan tuesday was an offyear election day in the u. S. , falling between the 2014 midterms and the 2016 campaign. The focus was local, with votes deciding Ballot Initiatives as well as city and state offices. In one of the most closely watched races, tea Party Favorite matt bevin won the governors race in kentucky, becoming just the second republican to hold the post in more than four decades. In houston, texas, voters repealed a City Council Measure barring discrimination over factors including Sexual Orientation and gender identity. Houstons equal rights ordinance, or hero, is modeled on similar laws nationwide intended to stop bias in housing, employment, business transactions, and city contracts. Opponents ran what critics called a fearmongering and antilgbt campaign. The prorepeal side claimed that allowing transgender women in bathrooms could lead to attacks by sexual predators on cis women on women and girls, with ads declaring, no men in womens bathrooms. City officials have when the city could face a backlash similar to the national uproar over indianas socalled religious freedom law earlier this year. Utah, meanwhile, saw a step forward on lgbt equality with the election of Jackie Biskupski as salt lake citys first openly gay mayor. Amy meanwhile, in ohio, voters rejected a measure that would have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational use. But many legalization advocates actually opposed the effort over fears it would create a marijuana monopoly. The measure called for giving wealthy investors who funded the campaign the exclusive rights to growing commercial marijuana in ohio. Voters also approved a Second Initiative banning the use of ballot measures for personal profit. Another ohio measure to curb gerrymandering in drawing legislative districts was overwhelmingly approved. And in San Francisco, voters rejected a measure to limit shortterm rentals, which would have restricted the business of the homesharing giant airbnb. In state races, republicans kept control of the Virginia Senate despite millions in spending from the progun control Advocacy Group of billionaire michael bloomberg. Meanwhile, in new jersey, voters ousted three republican members of the state assembly in a rebuke of governor and republican president ial hopeful chris christie. For more on tuesdays offyear Election Results, we are joined by john nichols, Political Writer for the nation. John, lets start in kentucky. You have republican victory for the first time for governor in 40 years. Well, it is not the first time. There was a republican elected once over the last 40 years amy second time. You are right this is a remarkable win for the republicans and it ought not be underestimated. The key thing to understand here is that matt bevin, the winner of that election, was he is a total outsider. He is a millionaire who a year ago challenged Mitch Mcconnell for the Senate Nomination from the far right. He won his republican gubernatorial nomination this year by only 83 votes. Everybody was saying, this guy is way too extreme, way too far out, way too outrageous. He was sometimes referred to as kentuckys donald trump, and yet he won. This is an important thing to understand. In the state were democrats have held their own at the state and local level up to this point, democrats ran an incredibly cautious campaign against matt bevin. They basically said, he is too extreme, too out there, vote for the status quo. Matt bevin said he would change things and he prevailed in a very low turnout election. Only about 30 . There are real lessons for national democrats. When you run cautious, when you dont mobilize a high turnout, you end up in a situation where somebody that you think would be easy to beat, you think is too extreme to win, could prevail. That is a lesson for 2016. Juan from what happened in ohio, especially with the vote on the redistricting . That was a really good result. I will say that while theres simply no doubt that democrats had a bad night nationally on tuesday, reformers actually had a very, very good night. In ohio, there was a ballot initiative, constitutional amendment to ban gerrymandering. It effectively said that if you pass this amendment, from here on out, district lines for the state legislature will be drawn to be competitive. There will be restrictions on one party, sort of setting up his own situation, essentially, join a map where because of a good Election Results in one year, you may be able to define the next 10 years. This is a really essential reform because gerrymandering of legislative districts frankly, of congressional defines a elections to a far greater extent than even money and politics. At the end of the day, if you draw a district that is overwhelmingly to one side, it is unlikely to be competitive. Ohio did a good thing. It is important to note that ma , cleano pass a very good elections law that beefedup their state financing systems as an alternative to big money. And seattle appears to have passed in incredibly innovative Public Financing law that allows citizens to have vouchers that they then give to candidates so that you actually have citizenfunded elections rather than bigmoneyfunded elections. If you look around the country, at the same time that very cautious democrats are losing a lot of important races for them, use the reformers, people who are proposing big changes to a broken political system, winning. Can speaking of seattle, you talk about the socialist city council who was one of those who spearheaded a 15 and our minimum wage, of her reelection . Yes, she is running for reelection in seattle. System has early voting and mail Voting System that leaves the situation where you dont get all of the results always on Election Night. You get a bunch of them. The initial results from Election Night in a very tough, very hard race, a lot of money was spent against her, she was winning 52 of the vote. This does not guarantee that she wins, but it creates a likelihood. A surly looks like a strong showing for her. And that is a big deal. Kshama sawant has been running thateelection on positions are every bit as bold as what she did two years ago. Two years ago she ran for the city council as a proud open socialist, saying that if she is elected, she would fight like wage. Or 15 an hour she did that. Now she is back saying that she wants to fight for rent control, once to fight to tax the wealthiest people in seattle, and she wants to fight forming a supple broadband to create a situation municipal broadband where we take the digital age and make them freely, inexpensively available to all rather than having all of the corporate overlay on it. That is a big deal. Amy looks like the city Center Counsel will become majority fema for the first time. It looks like the Seattle City Council will become majority fema for the first time. Seattle is one of the most interesting places in the country right now. They appeared to have passed a massive Funding Initiative for pedestrian, bike, Public Transit , pouring huge amounts of money to fossilnatives fuels, looking for real environmental advancement. King county looks to be passing an expansion of their oversight of the county sheriffs department. It will allow a lot more citizen oversight. You see a lot happening in seattle. It is a very progressive city. Juan john, the referendum in San Francisco involving airbnb spins youds amounts of money to build a continue spending huge amounts of money to be able to continue sharing their Business Model . A very was, i think him important referendum. It was one of the first times where we put the socalled gi geconomy, sharing economy up to citizen oversight to say, how do we regulate this . The important thing to understand is, airbnb knew the stakes. They spent an estimated 8 million in an effort to prevent this initiative from being enacted. And they won. That should not be missed. But i do think that this is the beginning, not the end, of a lot of votes on these issues. Because people are going to have to figure out some sort of structure to deal with this. Remember, in San Francisco, the airbnb vote was related to affordable housing. The idea that if youre renting out your place all the time, youre not going to make it available for 72 rent it in a permanent way. For somebody to rent it in a permit way. It is a much more complex fight than a lot of Media Coverage has given. I was suggest you this isnt the end of a debate over these issues, and is probably the beginning. Amy can you talk about houston . Significative element, houston is the most fourth populous u. S. City and it rejected a measure that would have banned discrimination based on gender identity and Sexual Orientation. Explain what has taken place. It is, frankly, a rough result. In houston, they enacted a very good piece it essentially wasnt just for the old ub to community, it was the host of issues saying theres a long list of protected classes, folks that were going to watch out for make sure we dont see discrimination on. It is just common sense. It is not very different from what weve seen in other cities, but what you saw was a brutal, Brutal Campaign which, frankly, a lot of money that them anyways remind me of the fight in california several years back on some of the lgbt issues where you had a of money come in very late from very negative advertising. And in the low turnout election, they were able to prevail by a big margin. This is, clearly, houston, a setback. In the setup you are noting also the alternative result in salt does we are all learning to pronounce her name right has been elected as the mayor. She was the first lgbt member of the utah state legislature. She now will be the mayor of select city and so we see these fits and starts across the country. But the houston result is one that i think people are going to be theyre going to be examining them and they should examine it, because it is a setback in a place where i think a lot of people thought this could be a win. Nichols, thank you for being with us, Political Writer for the nation. Author of uprising how , wisconsin renewed the politics of protest, from madison to wall street. This is democracy now when we come back, the first time in u. S. History, the largest release of prisoners in u. S. History, 6000 Prisoners Released over the last three days. We will have a conversation about what happens next, stay with us. [music break] amy a fire burns for freedom, ziggy marley. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan we turn now to the largest onetime release of federal prisoners in u. S. History. More than 6000 inmates have been freed early under a resentencing effort for people convicted of nonviolent drug crimes. Decisions by the u. S. Sentencing Commission Last year reduced prison terms for certain drug offenses and applied those changes retroactively. The move came as part of an effort to ease prison overcrowding fueled by the harsh crime laws of the 1980s and 1990s. Prisoners eligible under the new guidelines were allowed to apply before a federal judge. The federal government began releasing those who were approved on friday. Most of the prisoners have not been let go entirely the majority are living in Halfway Houses or under home confinement. Close to onethird, about 1700 people, are undocumented immigrants who now face immediate deportation. Amy more releases are expected in the coming months, with more than 40,000 federal drug prisoners eligible to apply. But even a recordbreaking onetime release will barely make a dent in the u. S. Mass incarceration crisis. With 2. 3 Million People behind bars, the u. S. Jails nearly a quarter of the worlds prisoners despite having less than 5 of the worlds population. 60 of u. S. Prisoners are people of color. A bipartisan criminal Justice Reform bill recently introduced in the senate would shorten mandatoryminimums for drug crimes, but advocates want the minimums abolished entirely. On monday, the final day of the early releases, president obama unveiled an effort to help the formerly incarcerated. Speaking in newark, new jersey, president obama announced he is banning the box barring federal agencies from asking potential employees about their criminal records on job applications. Quit the federal government, i believe, should not use criminal history to screen out applicants before we even look at the qualifications. We cant dismiss people out of handsomely because of a mistake that they made in the past. Amy for more we are joined by three guests. Burtonoined by susan from San Francisco founder and , executive director of a new way of life for entry project. In new york, the tory a law a , freelance journalist and author of resistance behind bars the struggles of incarcerated women. Her most recent article for truthout is titled, after spending years in prison, 2000 federal drug war prisoners will face deportation. And where also joined by five mualimmak, a human rights and Prison Reform advocate, and founder of incarcerated nation collective, a collective of previously incarcerated people. He spent 11 years nearly in new yorks prison system. We welcome you all to democracy now victoria, lay out what has taken place, the historic release but barely making a dent in the u. S. Prison population. When we look at this historic release, we have to understand, as you said earlier, with two point 3 Million People behind bars, 6000 barely makes a dent. And the push has been the political push to look at people who are convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. Huge categories of people who perhaps have violence in their criminal record and violence doesnt necessarily mean agree just violence, it might even just mean ive done something to you, which may or may not have a lasting physical impact but because it is done onto a person, it is considered violence. It also leaves a lot of room for the prosecutor to be able to overcharge people to be able to get them to plead guilty. And what were seeing with the 6000 is, again, if we are not looking at everybody who is in prison and were only looking at a certain segment of the population, we not going to be making any inroads into reducing mass incarceration. Juan even with these numbers, about one third of those being released will be deported. Could you talk about that . Have those folks already been deported or are in the process . People are in the process of being deported. A proximally 2000 people are foreignborn, which means because they did not have the luck of being born on u. S. Soil or their parents were not able to apply for citizenship for them, they, unlike everybody who supposedly is getting a Second Chance, the 4000 u. S. Born federal drug war prisoners, dont get that Second Chance. What happens is they are technically discharged from the federal prison system. They dont get to walk out the gates to their family or friends or even get on a bus and go home and see their children. They come instead, are picked up by ice and taken to an immigration facility where they await the partition. Deportation. We see this dating back to 1996 when clinton passed the antieffective Death Penalty act in the illegal Immigration Reform and responsibly act, both of which are mouth. Which expanded the list of criminal offenses which would subject people to detention and deportation. So Something Like a drug crime, which mandates one year in prison, now makes some of the eligible for deportation. Where is in the past, it was five years. Amy so there is a difference which and in a doctrine of person in foreign citizen . Guess, so even if you have legal permanent residency, youre still subject to deportation. Amy can you appeal . You can, and im not a lawyer, so i dont want to comment on how likely it is, but you go before it immigration judge and the judge has to decide what is and is not possible, but also if you are in the not well versed law, not wellversed in english, you might have a harder time understanding the process. And also knowing what your rights are. Juan i would like to ask five mualimmak your response to this mass releasing them ago it is such a tiny portion of the total prison population . First of all, you said it framed in the right way, this is the first step in the right direction, but it is a small dent. I would also like to see more previously incarcerated individual organizations who do reentry being supported as well. We do know this money and funding will go towards organizations who have a resume for salaries than they are for services, so even though we are part of theat, a reentry formation into these project, but i would like to see those incarcerated also have an input involved in the reentry juan what about the reentry issue . You went through your cell. Clearly, the president this week attempted to address that issue by ordering at least federal agencies to ban the box. Ban the box will assist those returning citizens to be able a fine fair employment. Talking about returning citizens who returned to our community, and should be treated Like Community members as well. But were not talking about the restoration of disenfranchise. It started in new york state. It is still a big part of this. Banning the box, her education, how are we going to teach people to grow without any change, right . We need to have that. I think that is a small step for, but a great step in the right direction. Amy what about housing . That bill you see leads up to hud to come up with organizations which has historically banned people and have difficulties. Yet chronic homelessness in new york state. In a statet 15 years penitentiary, you come home, youre considered homeless one day. I live two blocks from here for two years but they could not place me because i am a felon. They created special housing for that. We need housing cater to those who reentering society and assist them in or entering into the committee. Amy does banning the box apply to housing . No, it doesnt. It allows hud to come up with their own regulations and how people are banned from housing. They have not been to progressive in the past. Amy section eight housing . Yes. I have it and im one of the only felons in the projects who does. 26 Apartment Units in my building and that needs to be changed. That is why we will be doing another imc will be moving for to address this and show america what reentry really looks like. Juan in previous Public Housing projects, at least in new york, if you had a convicted felon in your family, you had a problem with being able to stay in Public Housing. You are not allowed on federal or government or city property. You cannot get a firsttime homebuyers loan. We have 600,000, returning citizens, per year. We need to provide for them and think about where these people are going to live. Are they going to live in threequarter housing . Or are we going to provide conference of services with honest housing that people can house their family as well . Amy susan burton, your joining us from los angeles. You are part of a new way of life reentry project. Talk about your own story and what you found were the greatest difficulties to Reenter Society after you are imprisoned. My fiveyearold son was detective. N lapd after that, i used drugs, used alcohol, and was incarcerated. For the next 15 years, i was in a cycle in and out of prison. Leaving prison not able to access any help. In 1997, someone helped me, and i was able to get my life on track. Someone helped me in a higher income area a santa monica, california. What i found was people in the community who were able to access so many different types of services, and im from south l. A. And i could not understand why there was such a buffet of services in santa monica and none in south l. A. Where was so badly needed. So i returned after getting help with my grief and with my addiction to south l. A. And got a small bungalow and began to welcome women leaving prison into that bungalow. We haveave over helped over 850 women return back from prisons and jails, but the discrimination and the systemic barriers are just a lot to actually have to work through. Too much to have to work through. Once you have served your prison sentence, you should not be we should not be excluding people from basic living needs and services such as housing, such as jobs, such as family unification. You know, i wanted to go to school. I was banned from getting aid back in 1998 when i tried to get into nursing school. They told me i would never be able to be a health care provider. And coming back into the community, you want to be able to be an asset, a viable asset to your community. And what is also so striking to me is that we spend hundreds of thousands a year on a person just warehousing and incarcerating them. In california, it runs out about 67,000 twoyear depending on how healthy you are up into the hundreds of thousands. When you get back to the community, you cant get any type of support or services. It just doesnt make sense to me. My thought is, what are we doing here . Women are the largest growing segment of the prison system. California houses the biggest womens prison in the world. My thought is, what are we doing here . Speakersith the other today, this release is only a start. And we have people who have been prosecuted so many different types of ways to say they are violent. You know, i believe in rubella ian, not only rehabilitation, not only for drug addiction, but for other areas. And we cannot continue to warehouse people and not provide levels of rehabilitation, reentry services, training, jobs, and allow them to be an asset and add to this economy in america. Juan i would like to bring victoria law back into the discussion. There was a recent article talking about the heroin epidemic around the United States and suddenly there was this gel or approach to dealing with drug addiction. Are didnt say these largely what communities compared to how the government was dealing if you decades ago with the mandatory sentences for drug convictions that mostly affected black and brown communities. What were seeing now is were talking about having a kinder, gentler, more merciful Second Chance approach because we are seeing it we are seeing white middleclass, more affluent communities being affected, which is not to say that there werent drug addiction problems and Substance Abuse problems and those communities before. But now were seeing this come to the forefront of people are saying, i dont want my child locked up. My child is a good child. So he or she should get a Second Chance. Whereas the same people might have looked at this issue 10 years ago and said, well, i think this person is a criminal based on all of these racist stereotypes i have been fed from day one since i was learning how to read, write, and invite media. Amy before we wrap up, five, your first day out of prison describe what happened. Dropped off at 42nd street, times square, navigating, having to make it to parole. The majority of people dont make it past that point. Amy how much money do you have . 40 and a bus ticket receipt. This is what they give you when you are released. Roughly 2000 people per year are released directly from solitary confinement like myself to write into the bus station. I had a panic attack and went to the hospital. The majority of people that have to go from parole and are. Hipped off to an island from there, i want to build you and from there to brc because of my mental illness, but that was after spending months of cycling in and out of bellevue because it is just an overnight shelter. Youre there for the night, take every thing you own and make it through the day and find somewhere or whatever you have to do for your appointments. This is how it is unsupported and were hopelessly in this country and financially addicted to caging our citizens. We are going to face this problem every day. We have half a million returning citizens. How are we addressing that . ,et organizations like inc center for new leadership as well, who address these issues from a population directly impacted. Are they being supported . No. Were one of the most under supported in underfunded businesses there. Businesses dont find organizations who do direct service. The catch 22, people previously incarcerated are exempt from direct services. Amy we will continue to follow this story. Five mualimmak is the founder of incarcerated nation collective. The tory law, we will link to susan burton who founded and heads the new way of life reentry project, speaking to us from los angeles. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. When we come back, power wars. Inside obama post9 11 presidency. We will speak with a Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times journalist charlie savage. Stay with us. [music break] amy orion, Rodrigo Y Gabriela this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. With just over a year left in office, president obama is running out of time to fulfill his longtime promise to close the u. S. Military prison at guantanamo bay. Obama signed an executive order for guantanamos closure in one of his first moves as president. But for the last six years, the administration has backed down in the face of staunch republican opposition. Now that showdown could be revived. Just last month, obama vetoed a republicanbacked military spending bill that would have made it more difficult to close guantanamo. Specificallylation impedes our ability to close guantanamo in a way that i have repeatedly argued is counterproductive to our efforts to defeat terrorism around the world. Guantanamo is one of the premier mechanisms for jihadists to recruit. It is time for us to close it. It is expensive. It is been there for years. We can do better in terms of keeping our people safe while making sure there were consistent with our values. So im going to be be doing vetoi this authorizationn billg and sending it back to congress and my message to them is simple , lets do this right. Amy the imprisonment of foreigners at guantanamo is one of several bushera policies that continue under obamas presidency. While obama has closed the cias secret prisons and banned the harshest of bushs torture methods, many others the drone war, president ial secrecy, jailing whistleblowers, and mass surveillance either continue or have even expanded. The story of the Obama Administrations counterterrorism legacy is told in the new book, power wars inside obamas post9 11 presidency, by Pulitzer Prizewinning New York Times reporter charlie savage. Charlie savage, welcome back to democracy now talk about what you wrote this book and called it power wars. Ive been covering these issues about collective security and individual rights since about 2003 when i first went to tontanamo and expanded issues like surveillance and torture in the rest of these things that you just mentioned. I remember in 2009 when obama came in and issued the executive orders like the one you was going toan, close the prisons and no more torture and so forth, i was ranking, what am i going to do with myself . This is my specialty, what i get up and come to work and think about, what my sourcing is. I need to find Something Else to do. Maybe theres an opening in the sports department. It turns out there was quite a lot to keep me busy in the years that followed. These issues were not so simple. There were not turned off. Very quickly, he became clear that there was one to be a lot more continuity with the counterterrorism policies that obama had inherited from george w. Bush and the expectations created by his campaign rhetoric. 90s atthe fed or 2000 the white house talking to the new white House Counsel about why that was. In the last few years ive been chronicling this and continuing to go to guantanamo and think about how executive powers are used and with the Edward Snowden links, we saw how much the surveillance state that obama had inherited remained intact. It became clear to me that there was a big story here that could not be told and individual newspaper articles, which you put this all together systematically, but also go behind the scenes and talk to people i talked to 150 current and former government officials and gained access to lots of documents that have not been public. I was attempting to explain what happened. How did it turn out like this . People on the left say obama is acting like bush. Is it true . What does it mean . When you look at these episodes over and over were things are happening in the world, the sort of liberal obama lawyers are grappling with and policymakers, what are we going to do about it and the rules are not clear and it is not as simple as it seemed to be on the campaign stump, just in the war on terror, when it is your administration that is going to be blamed and maybe go down in flames if there is a successful terrorist attack. Juan you point out there was a Pivotal Moment early on with the Christmas Day underwear bomber 2009 and the impact that had on the debate within the Obama Administration . This is one of my arguments in the book and the book opens with a trio of chapters about the christmas 2009 moment and the sort of political fallout. Your listeners or viewers may remember that al qaeda terrorists attempted to blow up a plane with a bomb in his underwear on Christmas Day 2009, thankfully, the bomb failed to go off. And it quickly became this enormous political and policy event and the fbi read the terrorist his maranda rights and that became a political issue in new york, even democrats who had cautiously favored having the court inl in a normal new york suddenly, there was this wave of fear. Obama was forced by politics to put a moratorium on transferring from guantanamo which killed the effort to close gitmo because someone at the low level prisoners are from yemen. Because the affiliate was based theemen, that since operation. Most important, scott brown, republican, whence ted kennedys seat in deep blue massachusetts. He does that by pounding on this issue of obama is trying to give rights to terrorists. I think inside the administration, all this culminated in a sense that they really cant sustain an attack everything they would try to do on totally unrelated issues, health care and so forth, would collapse and obama would be a failed one term president. At that point, this ambivalent first you that he had, keep this but ratcheted back, shifts was the p takes a much harder line on counterterrorism issues than he had before as an individual. A administration, security minded voices, many of whom are permanent parts of the government and not part of the political appointees who come in, who are reluctant to let this guy out of guantanamo work with this tool back in the toolbox and say were not one using anymore, they have a lot more influence. And the sort of reformer minded faction gets quiet. I chronicled that through sort of fly on the wall meetings through these disputes, some of which we knew what happened but did not know why and who was taking what position and what was going on behind closed doors, and others of the story, saying they did not know it all. Amy you are warning about surveillance long ago, long before Edward Snowden, the Edward Snowden revealed so much. President obama had a decision to make whether to continue the mass surveillance state, the mass surveillance of americans, not to mention others. Talk about the decision that he made, the difference he has now made in history. Have twos book i chapters about surveillance. And one of them, it is only about what happened under obama both before and after Edward Snowden. The other one tries to take everything we now know because of the snowden links and the government declassification as a result of these snowden links, of how surveillance developed in the 1970s up until 2009 and put it together in a coherent story. There has been the secret history of how technology and spying powers changed that we did not know and now it is noble. I open that historical chapter with a briefing that obama gave on february 4, 2009, right at that moment where i was thinking there was nothing left for me to do but was also starting to realize, what about these things they say theyre going to keep . Obama goes into the situation room to receive a briefing on all of the surveillance programs in a program that is keeping records of all americans domestic phone calls and emails that we dont know about until after he finds out about it at this briefing and the sort of security state, cia, nsa, Security Intelligence wants to you have heres what inherited. They breed them and explain how george w. Bush put it in unilaterally, the law doesnt matter we will do this after 9 11, but also over time, it had been sick really put on a stronger legal basis. Issuedelligence corps orders, came up with this patriot act theory about why maybe it was authorized, a and so their argument was, it is ok now because the legal basis for it is ok. Over and over weve seen a pattern of the Obama Administration, a problem with bush is a problem these programs are in nearly bad or the problem that bush was putting them in place and away that violated statutes . A lot of policymakers around obama, overwhelmingly focused on the problem with bush, if there was one, being a legal problem. Imays, uncomfortable comfortable with what you tell me, but i want my lawyers to take a look and are they satisfied. And they were satisfied. I talked to greg craig on the record about why youre fighting the secured establishment in other ways, why did obama not stop this when he first heard about it . Court like, well, the approved it enters a statutory basis for, the Intelligence Community knew about it did not seem to be a legally illegally rogue program. The problem is law, not individual rights. Juan you also reveal it one point the governor was considering the physical tracking of americans through their cell phones and basically, the entire population. Surveillance, i dont think has been talked about in the past. Edged out and on the side but so much was coming out, which target are you going to Pay Attention to . Of disclosures. Thats true. Theres this book phone Records Program that does not keep track of cell phone locational data, but it says who called who and when. But there was the nsa was playing around with, couldnt we also add another layer of metadata, which is which cell phone tower is this phone approximate to . So we in just that in bulk everyones location at any given moment in the day would also be in our databases and we could use that to figure out if were interested in someone or the people that person has been in contact with . Where were they physically . They got some data and started testing the system and then shut it down for stump that was before snowden. It sort of shows you the surveillance state or the people who play with toys at the nsa see the technological operational capabilities something as interesting and play with it and sometimes the Technology Gets way beyond what policymakers have decided is actually good idea it certainly is way beyond what the rules were written to regulate. Amy in the prosecution of whistleblowers . You know intimately. At the New York Times goes to your colleague james risen who was gone after as a journalist by the Obama Administration, intensified after bush. He thought with obamas charges would be dropped, instead, he went the other way. Ultimately [inaudible] amy and the questioning of him to many to release the information or face jail. What about the whistleblowers . In some ways, obama continued at least the outline of what he inherited from bush, in some ways on torture he rested ratcheted it back. And if you ways he goes beyond bush. Uses drones more. In another way in which things are different in a more aggressive way under obama, the administration noticing now the committal prosecution of nine leakers. Im in, i dont want to call them all whistleblowers because it makes it too easy discredits the whole critique. Informationroviding to the public for Public Education purposes without authorization of information that highranking people in the government want kept secret. Nine promised prosecutions in this administration versus three and all of American History combined. Radical change, right . Ive whole chapter looking at each of the nine cases and try to figure out behind the scenes, where does this come from . When you see something that turns on a dime like that, you really want it to be to make sense. You want some into at least have decided to do that. Amy we have 20 seconds. This has happened because this goes back to snowden, because of technology, its impossible to him who is in contact with anymore and cases are viable to investigate now that werent before. This is not something that obama or bush did, it is just that way in the 20th century and Investigative Journalism is still grappling with implications of that. Amy did you expect obama to do better since he had attacked bush so much on these issues . I dont is a better or worse, i just want to explain why this happened to this amazingly surprisingly turn of events. Amy part two on democracynow. Org. Charlie savage, his new book power wars inside obamas , post9 11 presidency. [captioning made possible by democracy now ]  i wonder if youd believe this, as a solution to the aboriginal problem . Herd the worst of the aborigines into one area, and put a chemical in their water that sent them sterile. In time, thered be none of them left. Well, that solution has been put forward by none other than one of the premiers closest friends, west Australian Mining magnate, lang hancock. Those that have been assimilated into, you know, earning a good living or earning wages amongst the civilized areas that have been accepted into society, and the