27 four month after giving birth to her second child. Attributed her Failing Health to the trauma of racial injustice. Racism kills. Amy we will look at a remarkable investigation by propublica on how hospitals are failing black mothers. Bottom line is in the United States we have some of the highest rates of Maternal Death in the industrialized world. This is driven by the high rate of black mothers. Like mothers are three to four times more likely to die in childbirth, and this is something we should all be talking about. Amy we will discuss how the fallout of Police Violence is killing black women like erica garner. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. President donald trump hardened his position on immigration wednesday, a day after he appeared to support a widereaching deal on immigration that could grant millions of undocumented people a pathway to citizenship. During a meeting with congressional leaders tuesday, trump repeatedly said he would take the heat for a sweeping immigration deal, which would likely be opposed by much of his farrightwing antiimmigrant base. President trump also said he wanted a bill to protect the 800,000 young undocumented people, known as dreamers, whose protections he attempted to rescind last year when he canceled daca, the deferred action for childhood arrivals program. But on wednesday, trump reversed course, telling reporters he would reject any immigration deal that doesnt provide funding for a militarized border. Pres. Trump i would imagine the people in the room, but democrat and republican, i really believe theyre going to come up with the solution to the daca problem, which has been going on for a long time, and maybe be on that immigration as a whole, but any solution has to include the wall because without the wall, it all does not work. You could look at other instances, look at what happened in israel. They put up a wall and solved a major problem. We need the wall. We have to have the wall. Amy meanwhile, trump is lashing out at the 9th Circuit Court of appeals after a federal judge on tuesday temporarily stopped the Trump Administration from ending the daca program. On wednesday, trump tweeted it just shows everyone how broken and unfair our court system is when the Opposing Side in a case such as daca always runs to the 9th circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts. Trumps remarks came just hours after agents with immigration and customs enforcement, or ice, raided nearly 100 7eleven Stores Across the United States, delivering audit notices and arresting 21 people. Acting ice director thomas homan said the raids were meant to serve a warning to employers that ice will hold businesses accountable if they hire undocumented immigrants. President trump refused to say wednesday whether hed commit to being interviewed by special Counsel Robert Mueller over allegations that his campaign worked with russia to influence the 2016 election. Trump was responding to a question about a New York Times report this week that mueller informed trumps lawyers last month that he will probably seek to interview the president , although mueller has not yet sent a formal request for the interview. Fielding questions alongside norwegian Prime Minister erna solberg, trump said any interview seems unlikely and repeated the phrase no collusion eight times in his roughly oneminute answer. Meanwhile, donald trump told his cabinet wednesday that hes looking to strengthen u. S. Libel laws after a book portraying the president as childlike and incompetent rocketed to the top of the bestseller list. Trump made the remarks as the white house continued to rail against the book, fire and fury by author michael wolff. Pres. Trump our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace, and do not represent American Values or american fairness. So were going to take a strong look at that. We want fairness. Cant say things that are knowingly false and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account. Amy in, russian and syrian warplanes are continuing a massive bombing campaign. Video on social media said to be from the attack shows massive explosions and an injured child being pulled from rubble left bleeding from the neck. Human rights observers say the risen to 160 in ghouta. Shows children among those being pulled from collapsed buildings. In tunisia, police say they arrested 237 people wednesday, while dozens more were left injured as authorities used clubs and tear gas to suppress antiausterity protests that spread across the country for a third consecutive night. The demonstrations began after the government announced it was raising taxes and hiking prices for fuel and staple goods. The protests are some of the largest in tunisia since the arab spring uprising in 2010 and 2011. In burma, authorities have formally charged a pair of reuters journalists with violating the official secrets act, despite International Condemnation over their arrests. Wa lone and kyaw soe oo appeared in court near yangon wednesday. They face up to 14 years if convicted on the colonialera law. Last month, the two were arrested as they investigated the site of a mass grave in rakhine state, where the United Nations says burmas government has led a campaign of ethnic cleansing against minority muslim rohingyas. In poland, lawmakers rejected a bill wednesday that would have liberalized the countrys abortion laws. The legislation would have removed all restrictions on abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, while funding sexual education and contraception programs. Lawmakers with the ruling conservative law and Justice Party say theyll now enlist the help of polish catholic clergy as they advance a bill that would prohibit abortions for women carrying fetuses with severe deformities. This is barbara nowacka, a polish lawmaker and member of the save the women civic committee. It shows the vastness of cruelty of the parliament. They do not want to talk about normality, about womens rights, sexual education that is neglected in poland or about contraception. They want to talk about torturing women. They cynically try to gain support of the clergy. It is tragic news for polish women. Amy poland already has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in europe. Pregnant women are only allowed to have abortions in cases of rape, incest or extreme danger to a womans health, or if prenatal tests show serious damage to a fetus. In the east china sea, authorities are warning a massive oil tanker that burst into flames on saturday could continue to burn for up to one month as rescue crews scramble to prevent it leaking vast amounts of toxic oil. The panamanianflagged vessel was carrying 136,000 tons of ultra light, volatile crude oil known as condensate from iran to south korea when it collided with a freight ship, leaving 31 sailors missing and feared dead. Its now listing heavily, with authorities warning it could soon sink under the waves. New york state said wednesday it giants oversil fuel contributions to global warming. Came as new york city mayor bill de blasio announced plans to divest some 5 billion in fossil fuel investments on the citys Public Employee pension funds. In southern california, the death toll from a series of mudslides has risen to 17, as rescue workers scrambled to save residents whose homes were buried under an avalanche of mud, boulders, and downed trees. The deadly mudslides followed an unprecedented winter fire season, which saw the states worst wildfire on record rage for days north of los angeles. The fires stripped vast areas of vegetation and opened up hillsides to collapse when heavy rains returned to california this week. Climate Scientists SayGreenhouse Gas emissions contributed to the wildfires and extreme weather. The Trump Administration is clearing the way for teenage farm workers to handle dangerous pesticides while on the job. Epa chief scott pruitt is considering the change, which would reverse a 2015 rule that requires anyone working with agricultural pesticides to be at least 18 years old. Doctors warn many pesticides carry a risk of cancer and can impact the developing brains of children. In missouri, republican governor Eric Greitens acknowledged on wednesday he had had an extramarital affair after a woman said the governor took a compromising photograph of her and used it to blackmail her into silence. The woman, whose name has not been revealed, has said part of her affair with greitens was consensual, but that the governor took a photo of her against her will after binding her to a piece of exercise equipment in his bement and blindfolding her, following up with a verbal threat to release the image if she spoke publicly about the affair. Governor greitens, whos a former navy seal whos been discussed as a future republican president ial candidate, has denied the blackmail allegation. Employees at fox news have confirmed that longtime correspondent james rosen recently left the network due to inappropriate sexual behavior with a number of female colleagues. Npr reports rosens actions included groping a colleague in a cab. When she rejected his advances, rosen reportedly sought to steal away her sources and stories in retaliation. Meanwhile, the Washington Post said wednesday it has suspended reporter Joel Achenbach for 90 days over what it called inappropriate workplace conduct with female colleagues. The post did not elaborate, but achenbach went on to apologize over his actions in a public statement. On capitol hill, California RepublicanCongressmember Darrell Issa said wednesday he will not seek reelection in november. Issa is longtime chair of the powerful House Oversight committee. He is also congresses wealthiest member, with an estimated net worth over more 250 million. In nashville, tennessee, a medical resident famous for his political activism is challenging the Vanderbilt UniversityMedical Center after he was suspended for two weeks over what he says was a twitter post critical of white supremacy. In november, dr. Eugene gu tweeted a photo of himself taking a knee and raising a fist, with the caption im an asianamerican doctor and today i taketheknee to fight white supremacy. Dr. Gu says he was placed on paid administrative leave after the mother of one of his patients complained about the photo. Dr. Gu has over 100,000 twitter followers and has long been outspoken on social issues. He was previously subpoenaed to testify to congress over his research on fetal tissues, and hes also suing President Trump for blocking him on twitter. And in peru, the Family Members of victims of in december, Family Members of victims protests erupted in peru after president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski pardoned former president alberto fujimori, who was imprisoned for crimes including ordering massacres by death squads in the 1990s. This is gisela ortiz perea, sister of luis enrique ortiz, who was one of Nine University students and a professor murdered at the la cantuta massacre in 1992. Im a close relative of in the victim. I saw with my own eyes these criminals. I experienced this story, the horrible death that occurred in my family, the suffering that is engraved in my memory year after year. It is awful to constantly have in my mind the face of the criminals. The most horrible thing is, there are people who continue to call us terrorists. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Nermeen and im nermeen shaikh. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Bipartisan opposition is growing to President Trumps proposal to greatly expand offshore oil and gas drilling. The reversal of the obamaera restrictions would open more than one billion acres of water in the arctic, pacific, atlantic, and gulf of mexico to offshore oil and gas drilling. Initially, the interior department moved to allow offshore oil and gas drilling in nearly all of the united state coastal waters, but then announced it has dropped plans to open up the waters off the coast of florida following fierce opposition by floridas republican governor rick scott. Scott is an ally of President Trump and the state is also home to trumps winter resort at maralago. But now governors and lawmakers from georgia, south carolina, north carolina, virginia maryland, delaware, new york, new jersey, california, oregon, washington, and other states are asking why only florida is being exempted. Amy the move comes as the Trump Administration is also moving forward on plans to open Arctic National wildlife refuge to drilling. The republican tax reform bill which trump signed into law last month included a littlediscussed provision to trip in the arctic. On during a press Conference Wednesday with the Prime Minister of norway, trump boasted about his embrace of fossil fuels. Pres. Trump i am for massive oil and gas and everything else, and a lot of energy. Putin cant love that. I of from the struggles military. Hillary was not for a strong military. And hillary, my opponent, was for windmills. She was for other types of energy that dont have the same capacities at this moment. Amy we go now to albuquerque, new mexico, where we are joined by subhankar banerjee, a professor of art and ecology at the university of new mexico. Professor banerjee is the author of Arctic National wildlife refuge seasons of life and land, and editor of arctic voices resistance at the tipping point. We come back to you professor because, first, we talked to you about the inclusion of opening up the arctic to drilling to satisfy set of armor cast to get her to sign on to the tax bill. She supported it. And now if you can take us from their, what has happened since . Tothank you for giving voice arctic oceans. ,o the department of interior plan lastlease thursday, which is really there is no other way to say onn it is an all out attack our oceans across the country and on coastal communities. It is so expansive, as you mentioned, it plans to open up more than one billion acres of federal waters. It is hard to comprehend the scope of this from florida, although florida as you said is pulling back, to alaska from california to maine. It is a massive plan. There are 47 leases that they plan to offer, which is the largest number of offshore history of in the the United States. In terms of acreage, also, like you said, more than a billion acres. It is the largest. And plans to open up the entire arctic seas of alaska and the chukchi sea come. Heelsecision comes on the of opening up the Arctic National wildlife refuge, as you mentioned. And that came right after the administration offered on december 6 what they call the ever inlease sale western Arctic Alaska. Theres an allout war against conservation and indigenous rights and against small communities across the country. Lease,addition to the this massive offshore leasecell plan, they have two more things that we need to attention to. One is safety regulations that were put in place after deepwater horizon, and the other is weakening off federal oversight on offshore oil and gas lease plan. I will speak reedley that immediate history of immediate history is extremely important. The reason the deepwater horizon ,appened in the gulf of mexico which spilled more than 200 million gallons of crude oil into the gulf of mexico, devastating wildlife and coastal communities, was because bp was trying to save cost and was trying to become the top dog in the entire gulf of mexico offshore drilling operations, trying to beat out shell. So in that process, they basically cut costs and did not do proper safety. So the blowout preventer is what caused the blowout to happen, the largest blowout in u. S. History. Subsequent to that, several years led to establishing offshore safety clement regulations. So exactly the week before the last week, the Trump Administration announced weakening of those regulations. So it is extremely important. The other is right before that in early december, the department of interior also killed a study that would have , the bureau ofre ocean management, controls and does oversight of offshore oil and gas Leasing Programs. So they killed that study. That is also very significant. We may have forgotten by now, but in 2008, the agency that used to do oversight of all offshore oil and gas operations as well as the Leasing Program used to be called Mineral Management service. That agency got caught up in a wideranging scandal, including sex and drugs, that was actually reported in the New York Times in 2008. So following that and following the deepwater horizon, president obama decided to create what he called at the time bureau of Ocean Energy Management regulation and enforcement, which later became bureau of ocean agency and its meant. So in addition to these billion acres of trying to open this