Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20160830

The price of the lifesaving allergy shot epipen by 400 over the past decade while its ceo received a 600 raise. Activists plan to deliver petitions today signed by 600,000 outraged consumers and allergy sufferers to mylans Corporate Headquarters in canonsburg, pennsylvania. Well get the latest. Then to o california where people are attempting to recall the judge who sentenced Stanford University swimmer brock turner to sixmonths in prison for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. It is very important for listeners to understand that we feel that judgee persky misapplied the law and when he didid that, he made e women on College Campuses less safe throughout Santa Clara County and even throughout the state of california. Amy as brock turner prepares to be released after serving half his sixmonth term, we will host a debate between a stanford professor leading the persky judicial recall effort and a public defender concerned about the unintended consequences of the recall. Then, cocould a foreign entity hack our electronic Voting System . The fbi is warning foreign hackers have already penetrated two state election systems. We will speak to investigative journalist Michael Isikoff. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In brazil, suspended president Dilma Rousseff took the stand monday and denounced her impeachment trial as a coup. An impeachable crime, any impeachment carried out by brazilian lawmakers is a clear attack on the constitution because the constitution clearly sets up the necessity for impeachment processes on the basis of a crime. Impeachment process which commits the violent act of removing an innocent president is a coup detat. Amy during her testimony, shehe also compared the impeachment proceedings to brazils dictatorshipera mililitary tribunals that sentenced her to prison for her activism against the regime. She was tortured while imprisoned. Despite her impassioned testimony, Brazils Senate is expected to vote to remove rousseff as eaearly as wednesda. In the United States, Homeland Security Department Secretary jeh johnson has ordered dhs review its contracts with forprofit prison companies. Thisis comes after thehe Justice Departmentnt told the bureau o f prisons to end its use of private prisons earlier this month. Dhs oversees immigrant Detention Centers come about 34,000 immigrants are currently being held in forprofit Detention Centers. Human rights activists andnd soe lawmakers celebrated the announcement. Arizona congressman Raul Grijalva said this step is a tacit admission that the corporations who profit by locking up desperate adults d childrenen undermine our decency as a nation. As with the justice depepartmet announcecement two w weeks ago,e dhdhs move c calls a plunge of stocks for geo group and corrections corporations of america, two of the largest forprofit prison n operators. This comes after the Justice Department told the bureau of prison strike, the 43rd this comes as incarcerated people in prisons across the United States are gearing up for a prprison strikike on septembe, which is the 45th anniversary of the attica prison uprising. Organizers say this years strike could be one of the largest prison strikeses in rect historory. On friday, about 50 foformerly incarcerated people and family members of currently incarcerated people from across alabama and georgia gathered in dothan, alabama, to organize support for r the strike. This is Kenneth Glasgow of the Free Alabama Movement. 24 different states, about 40 to 50 different prisons that was organized by the Free Alabama Movement to end a slavery. We found out by law that those that are incarcerated come in prison still have the rights to assemble, the rights to a prison strike if it is peaceful, and the right not to bee retaliated against. So those are things that we will be pushing. Amy y in news from the campaign trail, donald trump is again facing criticism over his campaigns ties to White Supremacists after a robocall from ku klux klan leader david duke surfaced in which duke urges louisiana voters to vote for him for senate and donald trump for president. We will be outnumbered and outvoted in her own nation. It is happening. Were losing our gun rights, free speech. We are losing our jobs and businesses to unfair trade. Were losing our country. Look at the super bowl salute to the black panther cop killers. It is time to stand up and but for donald president and me u. S. Senate. Amy trump has faced criticism in the past for initially refusing to disavow david dukes endorsement, although trump and his campaign have since repeatedly disavowed duke including after buzzfeed published audio of the robocall on monday. Donald Trumps Campaign is facing controversy after one of his surrogates tweeted an image of Hillary Clinton in blackface. Pastor mark burns is Donald Trumps top African American adviser. He tweeted the image on monday, which depicts Hillary Clinton in blackface and wearing a tshirt that reads, no hot sauce, no peace. Burns tweeted along with the image black americans, thank you for your votes and letting me use you again. See you again in 4 years. Burns later deleted the tweet, saying i regret the offensiveness of the black face. Meanwhile, donald trump calling out Colin Kaepernick for refusing to standard the National Anthem in a protest against leesburg tell of the in solidarity with the black lives matter movement. Trump called the protest terrible and said maybe he should find a country that works better for him. Hillary clintons top aide huma abedin has announced shes separating from her husband, former new york congressman Anthony Weiner after photos and , reports surfaced of weiner again sending sexual messages. Weininer stepped down from congress in 2011 after initially lying to the public about explicit phone and internet contact with six women he met online. He thehen ran for mayor. Meanwhile, huma abedin and hillllary clinton are facing increasing questions about how abedin was simultaneously paid by the Clinton Foundation, the state department, and the Global Consulting firm teneo which is run by doug band, who helped start the Clinton Foundation. Abedin has also been at the center of questions after the release of emails show the close ties between the Clinton Foundationon and the state department during Hillary Clintons time as secretary of state. On monday, the new york time Editorial Board called on clinton to distance herself from the e foundation as a ethical imperative writing the Clinton Foundation has become a symbol of the clinton laudable ambitions, but also of their tangled alliances and operational opacity. In local election news, arizona senator john mccain and florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman schultz have their primaries today. Mccain is up against kelly ward, a littleknown Arizona State senator. Wasserman schultz is the former chairwoman of the Democratic National committee. She step down stepped down after wikileaks released nearly 20,000 emails revealing how the Democratic Party favored Hillary Clinton and worked behind the scenes to discredit and defeat bernie sanders. Sanders has backed Wasserman Schultz opponent, tim canova, in t the primary race, althohouh some say sanders has not done enough t to support canova. The white house says it has met its goal of resettling 10,000 Syrian Refugees this year. That is only about 0. 2 of the total number of Syrian Refugees registered with the united nations. Many human rights organizations are calling on the u. S. To accept more syrians. On monday, Amnesty International wrote so many are still trapped in horrific conditions in refugee camps or war zones. The u. S. Must do more. Nearly 5 million syrians are currently displaced outside of their cotrtry. This comes as the Italian Coast Guard says about 6500 refugees were rescued off the coast of libya on monday alone. Most of the refugees were reportedly from eritrea and somalia. In bisismarck, north dakota, hundreds of people protested monday outside the offices of the law firm fredrikson and byron p. A. , which is representing Dakota Access llc the Company Behind the 3. 8 billion oil pipeline that has faced massive resistance from the e Standing Rock sioux tribe and other tribal nations. This is tom goldtooth, director of the indigenous environmental network. We are part of the growing thisent that isis condemnmning colonial legal system basesed un property rights. Amy members of nearly 100 tribal nations from across the United States and canada have arrived at the ongoing sacred stone spirit camp, which is blocking the construction of the 1172mile pipeline that would transport 500,000 barrels of bakken oil from north dakota to illinois. Among those who have traveled to Standing Rock is a delegation from black lives matter. This is janaya khan, cofounder of black lives matter toronto, speaking as they filmed the construction site. Here we are at Standing Rock, at the site of resistance. We were invited. And by the grace of the creator, were here on indigenous land, following indigenous a native leaderership. Amy this comes as a new investigation has revealed that more than a two dozen major banks and Financial Institutions are helping finance the Dakota Access pipeline. The investigation was published by the research outlet little sis. It details how bank of america, hsbc, ubs, goldman sachs, wells fargo, jp morgan chase, and other Financial Institutions have combined extended a 3. 75 billion credit line to energy transfer, ththe Parent Company f daDakota Access llllc. Meanwhile, protests are also continuing against oil and Gas Pipelines in the eastern United States. On monday, two activists were arrested in west roxbury, massachusetts, after they locked themselves to cars to protest the construction of the Spectra Energy gas pipeline. In new york city, eight people were arrested blockading the doors of national grid, to protest the electric companys support for the Spectra Energys aim pipeline, which is slated to run only hundreds of feet from the aging Indian Point Nuclear power plant. This is Alexandra Zevin speaking to democracy now as she was getting arrested. Why should new york state residents take all the risk in the corporation go off with all of the money . It is ridiculous. We need solar energy. We need when the power. Amy the growing protests against oil and Gas Pipelines come as nasas top climate scientist, gavin schmidt, is warning the earth is warming at an exceptional rate that is unprecedented in 1000 years. In colorado, an effort to place two antifracking measures on the ballot in november has failed to secure enough votes. One measure would have given local communities the power to ban all oil and gas projects. The other would have imposed a mandatory 2500foot distance between oil and gas projects and schools, playgrounds, and hospitals. Organizers of the Ballot Initiative say they were prooil 35 to one by Campaign Funded by the oil in gas industry. California lawmakers voted monday to pass a law requiring prison time for those convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious victim. This comes in the wake of california judge Aaron Perskys decision to sentenced Stanford University swimmer brock turner to a sixmonth prison term for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Judge persky said he was concerned a longer prison sentence would have a severe impact on turner. Following outrage over this sentence, persky has removed himself from hearing criminal cases. Turner is set to be released from santa clara jail on friday, after serving only half of his sentence. In puerto rico, six peoplele wee arrested for blocking the entrance of gfr media, which owns three of puerto ricos top newspapers. Protesters say the media companys coverage has been unfairly favorable to the promesa law, which was passed by the u. S. Congress in june, establishing a federally appointed control board with sweeping powers to run puerto ricos economy. This is mariana nogales, a lawyer representing the arrested activists. Mariana nogales and im a a lawyer. We are here because they arrested people for protesting against gfr. These Media Outlets have been making since the beginning. For a moment, some Media Outlets did express the promise alone was notot a good law for puerto rico. Hohowever, the editorial linines changed completely to be in favor of the control board. This is the first time they made arrest and detain people f for protesting against the control board and against groups and corporations adjust gfgfr media, which have expresseded support r the intro board. Control board. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The pharmaceutical giant mylan has announced it will launch a cheaper generic version of its lifesaving autoinjector epipen amid public outcry over its alleged price gouging. The company increased the price of its allergy injector by some 400 in less than a decade, sparking a National Conversation about the monopoly power of Drug Companies. Across the United States, millions of children and adults rely on the pocketsized epipen to counteract fatal allergic reactions from common occurrences such bee stings and peanut consumption. This is a video released by the nationwide childrens hospital. I am alallergic too nuts. I c cant eat strawbwberries. Mililk doesnt like m me. I g get alreadydy and bumpy. My eyes get puffyfy. I dont breathe so good. It made me really s scared. This. This this is my epipen. Amy on monday, the manufacturer of the epipepen, mylan, announcd it will essentially sell the same product under two brands at separate price points, in competition with each other. However, consumer advocates say the cost of the generic drug is still prohibitively expensive and triple the price of the epipen in 2007 when mylan acquired the product. In 2007, the wholesale price of the lifesaving drug in the u. S. Was 57. Less than a decade later, it now costs over 300. Each epipen reportedly contains only 1 worth of medicine. Mylan has a near monopoly in the u. S. And the company has seen its profits from the epipen alone skyrocket to 1 billion a year. Meanwhile, mylan ceo Heather Breschs total compensation has spiked from around 2. 5 million in 2007 to almost 19 million today. Bresch is the daughter of joe manchin of west virginia. Last week, bresch appeared on cnbc and said her compmpany was committed to making ththe epipen accessibible to everyone. Is a mother, i can assure you the last thing we would ever want is no one to have the epipen due to price. So, like i said, our response has been to take that immediate action of making sure that everyone has an epipen. So that was first in front and that is why were here today, to make sure that that messages out there loud and clear and that no one is falling through the cracks. Amy mylans decision to exponentially increase the cost of the epipen has ignited a firestorm on both social media and capitol hill. On monday, the House Committee on oversight and government reform sent a letter to bresch seeking documents on epipen pricing, including those relating to revenue from epipen sales since 2007, manufacturing costs, and the amount of money the Company Receives from federal Government Health care programs. Minnesota democratic senator Amy Klobuchar and virginia democratic senator mark warner have both published statements criticizing the price hike, noting they both have children who suffer from severe allergies and rely on the epipen. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton tweeted epipens can be the difference between life and death. Theres no justification for these price hikes. Today, the Consumer Advocacy Group Public Citizen and its allies will deliver a petition signed by approximately 600,000 people to mylans headquarters in canonsburg, pennsylvania, demanding further price cuts. For more we go now to , washington, d. C. , where were joined by peter maybarduk, director of Public Citizens Global Access to medicines program. And in san diego, california were a also joined by ashleyey , alteman. She runs a website called smashleyashley. Com where she has just posted an open letter to mylans ceo, Heather Bresch. Alteteman a contribibutor to te Huffington Post and several parenting blogs including scarymommy. Com. Peter maybarduk and ashley alteman, welcome to democracy now explain how the epipen works. This is a self injector, right . Salute leave. I have an out eightyearold daughter. We found out about her atethreatening egg allergy about nine months old and were introduced to the epipen roughly 2008. We were shown how itit works. The ease and the simplicity of the epipen. Amy wherere do you inject it . Into the thigh. When your child goes into anaphylaxis, you inject it right of your child. Amy what is your concern and what are you do manning and is open letter . At ivelooked looked at a lot of things. I went to pick up my daughters prescription and her prescription used to cost about 25. I have commercial insurance. They used to cost about 25 for a prescription. That includes two epipens. That prescription now costs me about 300. Mind you, i also had about 1000 a month in commercial insurance. And all of a sudden, this drug is absolutely skyrocketed. I went to pick it up in a completely blindsided me. In my open letter, i was honest. I said at the time, i did not have the amount of money that it cost for my copay to pay for these epipens at the time. Youre thinking youre going to spenend 25, maybe 50. A lot of people dont take into consideration the fact it is not just one epipen you need. You need them for your home, the school requires you have a depends on stock at the school. They only allow brandnew, unopopened prescriptions which means two epipens in a box. That is four between my house and my daughters school, meaning two copays right there. Grandparents, summer camps that adds a verery quickly. And now with his cost of a 300 copay, who can afford to pay that . Amy you wrote to the ceo of mylan, heaeather bresch, as one mother to another. Explain how you know your daughter is suffering and whether you are concerned people cant afford the new price of epipen would simply not use it in a crisis situation. Well, the reason i know that is because that is me. Sincesnt the first hike 2007. Last year, we took our chances because at the time we could not afford to spend the money on refilling the epipen for our home a and for the schchool. I k know that, me, from one mother to another. I dont make 19 million year as Heather Bresch does. I kind of look at it as, you know, i directed a letter at her, like you said, as one mother to another as, you know, these are our children our childrens lives depend on this drug. Wiwithout this drug, children ia certain instance, running until lifethreatening allergen, can die. 400 is ancrease of huge problem. Amy last week, Heather Bresch appeared on cncnbc and attempted to justify her companys pricing decisions. She was questioned by brian sullivan. Surely, you must understand the o outrage. Somebody i talk to last night, people are outraged because it seems outrageous that the American Medical Association has said this is basically the same product it was in 2009 and yet the price has gone up 300 or 400 fold. Look, no one is more frustrated than me. But you are the one raising the price. How can you be frustrated . My frustration is there is a list price of 608. There i is a system. I laid out there are four or five hence the product touches and companies that it goes through before it ever gets to that patient at the counter. Should beeverybody frustrated. I am hoping that this is an Inflection Point for this country. Our health care is in a crisis. It is no different than a Mortgage Financial crisisis back in 2 2007. This bubble is going to burst. What bubble . When you walk up to a counter, i think it is fair to say any time youre shopping for anything, you know what that product is going to cost when you walk up to the counter. Only in health care in this instance for vista gold you couldve paid 25 yesterday and youre paying 600, 2000 post up to dr. Bulls went overnight. Coming out of a patients pocket went from 100 to 3000. Amy that is Heather Bresch, ceo of mylan. Exactlyybarduk, explain what has happened here. Explain what the price increase was and now people are organizing now. What i is Heather Bresch explaining here . Well, the Drug Companies want to point fingers at the insurers and the insurers want to point fingers at the Drug Companies. But it is all, alluded mechanisms to avoid talk about price. This is a 100yearold drug in a 40yearold Injection Technology that was invented in connection with the department of defense project, meaning taxpayers already paid for considerable amount of the Research Associated with this product. , itt the product when mylan cost 100, now at the 600. The increase in epipen prices have more or less tracked the increases in the mylan ceos executive compensation over that period of time. There have not been significant improvements to that product. Were not paying for innovation. We are paying for pricegouging. Were paying for mylans shameful greed. But look citizen will deliver i think the number is increasing closer to one million signatures, hopefully, if you help us out, to mylans Corporate Headquarters outside pittsburgh demanding that price be reduced. In other words, mylan was to talk about coupons and patient assistance programs industry absolutely bizarre move of introducing a generic version of it, essentially generic of its own product. The one thing it wont do, the one thing mylan refuses to do, is talk about reducing the price. That would be the most effective thing to do to ensure that everyone who needs in epipen can get one and the cost burden we all share is reduced. A makeup can you explain that further, what they have done as opposed to just reducing the price . Yesterday my lawn announced it was going to introduce what it called the generic epipen. This is a little strange as the drug is not patents keeping competitors primarily off the market. What they mean is, they will have they fill a big Brand Reputation through very aggressive marketing around epipen and they intend to retain a premium market where they can sell for this 600 for the branded epipen. At the same time, they will introduce an identical product doing the exact same thing in the exact same way, no differences between the products, except it wont have the epipen brand. They will sell that for 300. That is their solution, so called, to the price of the epipen in the first place, down to a more reasonable level, say 100, which is still a very profitable price, a price that many other wealthy countries pay and the price at which the product hit the market a decade ago. Amy theyre also talking about coupons that people can get. Can you explain what that is . Patient figures out how to use the coupon, they can reduce their copay at the pharmacy and mylan says it will enroll people in assistance programs to reduce the price that consumers are paying at the counter in theory. But not everyone will use the programs and it doesnt do those methods dont do anything to reduce the cost at we are all paying into the system for the 600 epipen. If you dont have insurance or if you have a high copay, you may still wind up paying very high prices for these events. Amy mylan did find one prominent defender, Martin Shkreli. Last week, you might remember the former Hedge Fund Manager sparked National Outrage after he hiked the price of a lifesaving drug by more than 5000 . Prosecutors also accuse Martin Shkreli of organizing a ponzilike scheme at his former hedge fund and his startup Pharmaceutical Company turing pharmaceuticals. Well, shkreli is back in the news and weighing in on the epipen controversy. Here he is speaking to cbs minnesota local station wcco. They y have one product where theyre finally starting to make a lilittle bitit of money,y, and eveveryone is goining crazy. These are lifesaving drugs. People donont have a choice whether they can buy them or not. It is up to insurance to pay for them. 300 a pen. My iphone is 700. But you dont need an iphone to exist. It doesnt matter. Amy last week, shkreli tweeted with 8 margins, mylan is close to breaking even. Do we want them to lose . Sole supplier of a lifesaving drug should have a better margin. Shkrkreli later tweeted mylan 9 net m margin viacom 15 , altria 21 . Cigarettes, 21 . Mylans contribution to this product is simply the marketing. They are not the ones who really invented the Technology Behind this post up any investments made in the chain are long since expired and this is the price that keeps going up without justification. Mylan is taking advantage of their monopolistic position in the market. That is the systemic problem that we all face. The number one reason that drug prices are so high in the United States is that we have government granted monopolies in many areas, de facto monopolies or individuals like Martin Shkreli and Companies Like mylan you figured out how to corner a market and figured out how to charge as much as we and our Health System collectively will pay to care for our loved ones. That is the bubusiness model. Profit maximizing. Amy what are you doing today . Today, Public Citizen is going to deliver a position addition to mylan Corporate Headquarters to manning that mylan simply cut the price. Cut the convoluted talk about these alternative mechanisms and simply cut the price of epipens so that we can all afford it and our Health Care Bills ultimately go down. Amy i want to thank you for being with us, peter maybarduk, director of Public Citizens Global Access to medicines program, and thank you to ashley alteman, who runs the website smashleyashley. Com where she has just posted an open letter to mylans ceo, Heather Bresch. Ashley altman is a contributor to the Huffington Post and several parenting blogs including scarymommy. Com. When we come back, we are going to Stanford University. A debate on a sentence given by a judge and what has happened since in the california legislature. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. California lawmakers voted monday to pass a law requiring prison time for those convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious victim. This comes after news that california judge aaron persky will no longer hear criminal cases, following outrage over lenient sentences he handed down to sexual offenders. Persky became the subject of a recall campaign after he sentenced Stanford University swimmer brock turner to a sixmonth prison term for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Judge persky said he was concerned a longer prison term would have a severe impact on turner. Turner was caught by two witnesses thrusting on top of the victim as she lay unconscious behind a dumpster. Turner is white and judge persky has since given a harsher sentence to a latino man who committed a similar crime. More than 1 Million People have signed a petition demanding persky be removed from the bench. He will be reassigned to a civil court in san jose at his own request. In a statement to democracy now , judge persky said i believe strongly in judicial independence. I took an oath to uphold the constitution, not to appease politicians or ideologues. When your own rights and property are at stake, you want the judge to make a fair and lawful decision, free from political influence. As a judge, i have heard thousands of cases. I have a reputation for being fair to both sides. Turner is set to be released from santa clara jail on friday after serving half of his sentence. Activists plan to protest across the street from the jail on the day of turners release. This comes as people point to another case in which they allege bias by judge persky. In 2015, 21yearold College Football player Ikaika Gunderson pleaded no contest to felony Domestic Violence for assaulting his exgirlfriend. He faced up to four years in prison. Judge persky delayed sentencing for a year to allow gunderson to attend college at the university of hawaii. Supporters of judge persky caution that efforts to recall a jurist based on his use of judicial discretion may have unintended consequences, leading to less care in sentencing and a negative impact on people of color. For morore we are joined by two guests. Michele Landis Dauber is a stanford law professor who is leading the recall campaign against aaron persky. Sajid khan is a public defender in san jose, california. He leads the effort in support of Santa Clara County judge aaron persky. We welcome you both to democracy now let us begin with michele Landis Dauber. We spoke to you when you began your campaign. Explain your response to the judges decision to take himself off of criminal cases and the law that is been passed as a result of the case that you were so deeply concerned about. Well, we are continuing the recall, amy, because this is a voluntary, temporary reassignment that the judge has requested. Judges are reassigned annualllly in Santa Clara County court. And he can return to thehe criminal court later when he chooses to do so. And in addition, we believe this judge is biased in the area of Sexual Assault and violence against women. And many issues like Sexual Harassment in the workplace or educational Sexual Assault, molestation by teachers these kinds of issues s are still head in the civil court. We feel that bias is not a good thing in the civil court, either. Amy very quickly, explain the case at the heart of the recall that so motivated you to make the move t that you did. Case,l, in the turner which i assume is the case you are referring to, judge persky gave a sentence that we believe is overly lenient. And in order to do that, he had to make a finding on the record that this was an unusual case and that the interest of justice required that he grant mr. Turner probation rather than the minimum twoyear sentence. We dont believe the interest of justice required in any way that he make that exception for mr. Turner, and we think that the two minimum sentence would have been far more appropriate. And since that time, we have learned about many other cases that show what we believe is a clear pattern of bias, a blind spot, if you will, that this judge has in cases of violence against women, for example, the case of mr. Gunderson that you just mentioned. In that case, i think that may in fact be worse in many ways than the turner case because in that case, it appears that the judge sent mr. Gunderson to another state that is to the state of hawaii without following the interstate compact for adult supervision and without informing the state e of hawaii that mr. Gunderson as a convicted Domestic Violence fallon was even located within the state. He wasnt on probation. He didid not have a report to anyone. No one knew he was there. He left that state and went to washington where he apparently reoffended. We just feel that particularly with collegiate athletes, this judge has a blilind spot. He does not see these as the serious felonies against women that they are, and treats them like misdemeanors. Amy the of alleged that took persky judge persky broke the law . We think the attorney general and the commission that a force the adult offender supervision compact should investigate and get to the bottom of t this situatioion. Lawful, inis not fact, for an offender, a felony convicted offender like mr. Gunderson, to leave the state of california except under the supervision of this is a 50 state compact and it has part of ththe california it is part f the california penal code. It is very improper to do this. I dont think it was appropriate and i actually think there are real questions about whether it was lawful, yes. Amy sajid khan, your leading the effort against the recall. Explain why. I just think the recall effort is misguided and shortsighted. I think that we as a community when we attempt to recall judge persky, are sending the message that we want our judges to be more harsh and punitive rather than being merciful and compassionate. We dont see recall efforts at all when it comes to judges that impose what we believe to be disproportionately harsh sentences on clients of mine, public defendant clients, minorities. And here we have a scenario where judge persky exercised discretion afforded to him within the law to see brock turner for more than the crime more than just the crime he committed. And we saw judge persky exercise that discretion with a certain sense of mercy for brock turner. And we want to encourage that type of holistic, humane approach to sentencing rather than the onesizefitsall sentencing schemes that have plagued our country. Taken the, i have stance so that we as a community in courage judicial discretion, compassion, and mercy rather than discourage it. Amy so brock turner was convicted in march of three felony counts a salt with the intent to commit rape of ann unconscious person, sexual penetration of an unconscious an intoxicated person. Prosecutors sought a sixyear term. He got six months. He served three months and he is being released on friday. Talk about why you think that is fair. The headline when this news broke about brock turner captured exactly what you just said, which was rapist gets six months in county jail. Those were misleading headlines. He did not capture the totality of the sentence that brock turner received. He is a convicted felon, something that he cannot shake for the rest of his life. Yes to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, whether that be in the state of california or anywhere else. He is on felony probation for three years, which means he is supervised by probation officer and if he violates his probation areommitting a new offense not doing what he is directed to do, he can still go to prison for up to 14 years. Here we have someone who was a young man who read no criminal school ando was in had shown himself beyond the crime to be a capable member of the community. So this is the exact type of offender even despitete the severity of the crimes s he was convicted of that merited probation and the opportunity to real estate himself in the rehabilitate himself in a committed he rather than being sent to prison. We see it was a harsh penalty, a harsh sentence and it was not lenient as many perceive it to be. It did take into account brock turners humanity and not just the crime that he was convicted of. Amy y professssor, your respon . Obviously, we have to see this differently and we disagree. I want to say i have the of must respect for the public defenders service. I think they are, typically kpeaking, doing fantastic wor for low pay and i support them wholeheartedly. We just part company on this issue. That thisagree sentence was appropriate. I want to say i am no fan of harsh sentencing for nonviolent minority drug offenders, you know, that have really fed our mass incarceration problem. And took we not a fan, for example, of mandatory minimums. Andwith judicial discretion judicial independence, these are very important things, but they come with the obligation a very important obligation to act without bias. And we feel strongly that violence against women is a serious, serious crime and that mr. Turner was a very, very unlikely candidate for the kind of low exception sentence that he received. He did not plead guilty. He never took full responsibility for the crime. You never really accepted the jurys verdict. He never expressed remorse for the crcrime he actually committ, which was Sexual Assault. ,n everyry dimension, he was not in our opinion, a typical or good candidate for this kind of leniency. So we just strongly disagree that this was an adequate sentence. Amy sajid khan, can you respond to her argument . My concern here is we as a community have accepted the notion of more prison time or prison time being the answer to all criminal behavior, even serious committal behavior like Sexual Assault. And so we tend as a committed thebabased on the system of mas incarceration that we essentially existed in force along to equate justice to the amount of time that someone is incarcerated for. I think that is the wrong metric. I think it is the wrong measure of justice. So i do think even with crimes like Sexual Assault, even with the crimes that brock turner was convicted of, there still has to be room within the law and there is room in this particular law for a judge like judge persky to see there may be mitigating circumstances that meritit somee merit someone getting probation rather than prison. I want us as a community to encourage that use of discretion and encourage the individualized assessments of offenders rather than this am again, onesizefitsall approach to criminal behavior in sentencing. Amy i want to turn to a moment to the defining moment in the brock turner case, the reason this case, i think, became so wellknown. And that is the victim impact statement. The statement is over 7000words long and condemns the role of privilege in the trial and the way the legal system deals with Sexual Assault. It has since gone viral, with over 10 million views. The statement is addressed directly to the defendant, brock turner. The person it was raped said, you dont know me, but youve been inside me, and thats why were here today. The victim, often referred to as emily doe, went on t to write my life has been on hold for over a year, a year of anger, anguish and uncertainty, until a jury of my peers rendered a judgment that validated the injustices i had endured. Had brock admitted guilt and remorse and offered to settle early on, i would have considered a lighter sentence, respecting his honesty, grateful to be able to move our lives forward. Instead he took the risk of going to trial, added insult to injury and forced me to relive the hurt as details about my personal life and Sexual Assault were brutally dissected before the public. He pushed me and my family through a year of inexplicable, unnecessary suffering, and should face the consequences of challenging his crime, of putting my pain into question, of making us wait so long for justice. I told the probation officer i do not want brock to rot away in prison. I did not say he does not deserve to be behind bars. The probation officers recommendation of a year or less in county jail is a soft timeout, a mockery of the seriousness of his assaults, an insult to me and all women. It gives the message that a stranger can be inside you without proper consent and he will receive less than what has been defined as the minimum sentence. Probation should be denied. I also told the probation officer that what i truly wanted was for brock to get it, to understand and admit to his wrongdoing. Unfortunately, after reading the defendants report, i am severely disappointed and feel that he has failed to exhibit sincere remorse or responsibility for his conduct. I fully respected his right to a trial, but even after twelve jurors unanimously convicted him guilty of three felonies, all he has admitted to doing is ingesting alcohol. Someone who cannot take full accountability for his actions does not deserve a mitigating sentence. It is deeply offensive that he would try and dilute rape with a suggestion of promiscuity. when you hear that, sajid khan, as we wrap up this discussion, do you understand the anger of the people who have called for the judges recall . Sure, understand it. I understand it completely and i have empathy for ms. Doe and what shehe endured. My concernrn is that we as a Community Need to have a thoughtful response to this sentence in this case that not only takes into account this particular victim in particular offender, but also takes into account our system generally. I think our system generally benefits from judicial discretion, judicial compassion and mercy rather than mandatory minimums and, again, the metric that prison time equals justice. And i dont think that is what we want it is not the mesesse we want to send to our community. And i think that is the message the recall effort does send is that we want our judges to err on the side of being more harsh and punitive rather than exercising that mercy. And that is something t that our community does not benefit from. Amy and where, professor Landis Dauber, does the recall go from here . We are going to be holding a rally to protest the short sentence given to mr. Turner. Ast will be friday morning he is released. And then were going to continue to bring Forward Research about his record and sex crimes, the judges record, as in the andederson case and the robert chain chopper knocker feet case that was also child photography case that was a couple of weeks ago, in order to educate voters so they can examine his record and decide if they w want to selelect anothehr candidate in the election. That i hope we will be haviningn november 2017. Amy and the law that was passed was introduced by the legislature on monday, are you satisfied with it . Rofesessor . I dont oppose that change. I think it is sort of a common sense change. I dont think an n intoxicated person should be treated different way then an assault through force. It seems kind to me. I think in general our rape law is antiquated d and could use a sort of a generalized overhaul. Amy sajid khan . I just have concerns about the swinging pendulum back toward mandatory minimum sentences. I think it is a slippery slope. It is actually something we have been working hard to counter, and i think we dont want to go back down that path a mandatory minimums that essentially have resulted in our mass incarceration epidemic. Amy just repeat, california lawmakers voted monday to pass a law requiring prison time for those convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious victim. I want to thank you both for being with us, michele Landis Dauber, stanford law professor, and, sajid khan, public defender s center say, leading the effort in support of judge persky. When we come back, we had to washington. The polling places be hacked on election day . Stay with us. [music break] amy one of the songs in the Hunting Ground which documents how colleges and you versus across the country are covering up Sexual Assaults. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace repoport. Im amy goodman. Hackers based outside the United States have e reportedly infiltrated two state election databases raising fresh concerns about cybersecurity in the lead up to the president ial elections. This is according to a new investigation by yahoo news, fbis s cyber divisionon releasa flash alerert earlier this month and warned Election Officials across the nation to take new measures to bolster the security of their computer systems. Sources familiar with the document told yahoo news that arizona and illinois were the two states compromised by the hacks. The illinois hack reportedly caused more damage, forcing officials to shut down the Voter Registration system for10 days in july after the hackers managed to download personal data on up to 200,000 state voters. For more we go to d. C. Michael , isikoff. He is the chief investigative correspondent for yahoo news. His new piece is titled, fbi says foreign hackers penetrated state election systems. Michaeael, thank you for joining us again. Explain what you found. Well, look, this whole issue of potential hacking of the election has gotten a lot of attention because of the fact of the Democratic National committee and other political thatizations in washington u. S. Officials believe was committed by russian intelligence. That theed the concern russians, if indeed they did what he was officials believe they did, wont stop there and they might seek to temper with the election itself. That would not be an easy thing to do. In 40 states, we have optical scan, yet voting with their our paper ballot backup. But there are points of boehner ability most of in six states and onto others, including pennsylvania, there are electronic Voting Machines that are born rubble that could be tampered a vulnerable that can be tampered with. There are voting for overseas inlots and military ballots 33 states. Jehof this prompted johnson, home executed secretary, to have a Conference Call with ststate election 15 andls on august advise them come here are steps we think you should take. This is an area of concern and as we report in this piece,e, three days later, the fbi sent a confidential warning to state electition officials saying they were investigating penetrations of two states. They dont refer they do not name them in the piece, but and the alert, but we did report they are arizona and illinois. In the case of illinois, hackers leapt to be foreign p penetrated the Election Voter database and next will traded, stole that on about 200,000 voters. So we dont know at this point ofther that is linked to be the democratic hacking. Is something the fbi is investigating. Cyberld have easily been criminals doing this for fraud purposes. But it has raised the concerns to new levels that this is something that state Election Officials have to take a lot more seriously and federal officials as well as t. Amy what are these states . Res have no paper backup. The two that are akdag of the concern because their swing states, pennsylvania and virginia. Probably, others, are pretty locked in on who theyre going g to vote for. I can tell you this is being taken seriously in those states. I talked to pennsylvania officials for this fees. They are aware of the vulnerabilities. One obvious step is to make sure the machines are not connected to the internet in and around the time of voting, but as some point they have to be turned on. They do have to be connected. That is a sophisticated hacker that could theoretically get in and somehow tamper with the tabulations. Amy michael, you have the fbi saying that uncovered evidence that foreign hackers penetrated two state election systems, but it doesnt have to be foreign hackers. Right. It could be anybody. Look, there is the on both sides, therere is heightened awareness and concern about this. You have donald trump talking about rigged elections. On the other hand, you have democrats like harry reid who wrote a letter to the fbi director comey yesterday after mypiece, raising concerns about russian tampering and giving associations of people in the Trump Campaign have had with russia, Paul Manafort was in business with appropriate and oligarchs. Mike flynn, the general retired general flew over to moscow for the 10th anniversary celebration of rt was paying for it. There have been multiple amy and you have donald trump talking about rigged elections. On the other hand, what wit brother response to his claim of clintons emails . Overthetop. He said he was a leading sarcastic and should not be taken seriously. Russians actually launch a fullscale cyber attack and influence the election . Probably not. As i mentioned, there are points of vulnerability, but it would take a like given the elections are state and local affairs and theres a lot of points of entry and it would be a huge undertaking. It even if they could amy three seconds. Do Something Like they did last on amy Michael Isikoff 8u