Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20180221 : comparemela.co

Earthquake. We will speak to a reporter at the times of london who exposed the scandal plus the head of the coalition against trafficking in women and the haitian writer Edwidge Danticat in miami. Then we look at the role of army junior reserve officer Training Corps program after nikolas cruz, a former jrotc cadet, carried out one of the Deadliest School shootings in u. S. History. Cruz was on the schools jrotc team when it received a 10,000 grant from the nra. All of that a more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The Syrian Government is continuing its deadly barrage of airstrikes and artillery fire against the rebelheld enclave of eastern ghouta, outside the capital damascus, with aid workers reporting at least 2 people have beenilled over the last 48 hours. Many of the victims are women and children. On tuesday, the Charity Unicef released a nearly blank statement on the killings, writing no words will do justice to the children killed, their mothers, their fathers and their loved ones, followed by quote marks and 10 blank lines. State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert called tuesday for an immediate ceasefire. On all parties to come in to the unconditional deescalation of violence. Russia must end its support of assad regime and its allies. Theyre responsible for the dire humanitarian situation and used ghou and the her rent ista death toll. To allow for the unfettered delivery of humanitarian supplies and the Urgent Medical evacuation of civilians east guida. The cessation of violence must begin now in those dating Emergency Assistance should be allowed to evacuate immediately. Amy in florida, 100 students who survived the deadly shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have arrived at the capital, tallahassee, to demand action from lawmakers on gun control. This is alfonso calderon, one of the students. My friends and the families that are never going to have their kids come back to them again. That motivates me every single day and it will never be a deterrent for any reason. Nothing could bring me down being reminded every single day of the horrific things i saw and hopefully, no one has to ever see again. Amy their arrival came as the Florida Legislature voted down a measure to open debate on banning largecapacity magazines and semiautomatic rifles, such as the ar15, what was used by the shooter, a white former student named nickolas cruz. The student activists are planning to march to the Florida Legislature this morning. Meanwhile, President Trump has come out calling for a ban on socalled bump stocks, which allow semiautomatic rifles to act like machine guns, capable of firing hundreds of rounds per minute. Pres. Trump just a few moments ago, i signed a memorandum directing the attorney general to propose regulations to ban all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns. I expect that these critical regulations will be finalized very soon. The key and all of these efforts, as i said in my remarks the day after the shooting, is that we cannot merely take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make a difference. Amy the National Rifle association heavily lobbied for a rule change on the sale of bump stocks rather than a congressional Ban Following the las vegas massacre. Rule changes are significantly easier to reverse and avoid Congress Taking up regulations on the sale of bump stocks and other gun control measures. President trump is also hosting a listening session at the white house today with High School Students and teachers who have survived Mass Shootings around the country. Meanwhile, florida, while the legislature voted down debate on gun control, it did approve a resolution to clearing pornography a health risk am a particularly for teenagers. President trump has again attacked one of the 19 women who have accused him of Sexual Harassment and assault after her story was published in a frontpage Washington Post article headlined is anyone listening . Rachel crooks accuses trump of forcibly kissing her, without her consent, on the lips while she worked as a receptionist in trump tower in 2005. On tuesday, President Trump called her a liar, tweeted a woman i dont know and, to the best of my knowledge, never met, is on the front page of the fake news Washington Post saying i kissed her for two minutes yet in the lobby of trump tower 12 years ago. Never happened who would do this in a public space with live security in response, Rachel Crooks called on trump to release the Security Camera footage. This is Rachel Crooks recounting the incident at a News Conference here in new york in december. Years ago as he young receptionist in trump tower, i was forcibly kissed by mr. Trump during her first introduction. You repeatedly kissed my cheeks and ultimately my lips in an encounter that has impacted my life will be on the initial occurrence in feelings of selfdoubt and insignificance i had. That some men think they can use their power, position, or notoriety to demean and attack women asked of their character, not ours. Which believe me, is a tough lesson learned. Amy Rachel Crooks is now running for a seat in the ohio state legislature. To hear our discussion with more of the women who have accused President Trump of Sexual Harassment, salt, or misconduct, go to democracynow. Org. In more news on Sexual Harassment and assault, a woman who has accused Supreme Court Justice Clarence thomas of Sexual Harassment is calling for his impeachment from the bench. Journalist Angela Wright shannon says thomas repeatedly pressured her to date him and made comments about her breasts when they worked together at the equal Employment Opportunity commission in the mid1980s. Shes one of multiple women who have accused thomas of Sexual Harassment, including renowned law professor anita hill. The cofounder of the fashion brand guess, paul marciano, has stepped down after supermodel kate upton accused him of forcibly groping her breasts after a photo shoot in 2010. Guesss stocks have dropped more than 20 since upton publicly accused marciano a few weeks ago. President trumps soninlaw and Senior Adviser Jared Kushner is reportedly facing off against white house chief of staff john kelly over kushners interim security clearances. Kushner is among dozens of white house officials who have been accessing classified information using limited interim security clearances, as the fbi has refused to grant them full security clearances due to issues in their background checks. Among others denied full security clearance was former staff secretary rob porter, whose clearances were held up because of serious accusations of Domestic Abuse against both of his exwives. Chief of staff john kelly came under massive fire after it was revealed the white house knew for months that Domestic Violence accusations were portersp orders security clearance. Now kelly is issuing new guidelines that include revoking top clearances for all officials, including kushner, whose background checks are still pending. At the United Nations, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas has called for an International Conference to restart the israelipalestinian peace process. In his speech, abbas said the United States could no longer preside over the peace process, because it had contradicted itself and its own commitments and has violated international law. Last year, President Trump sparked Widespread International outrage after he announced the United States was recognizing the contested city of jerusalem as the capital of israel. The Israeli Government has begun indefinitely jailing african Asylum Seekers who refuse to leave israel amid israels threats to jail or expel up to 40,000 africans fleeing war and persecution in eritrea and sudan. On tuesday, the Israeli Government indefinitely imprisoned seven eritreans after they refused to be deported to rwanda or eritrea. The move sparked protests, including at the Ben Gurion Airport were five people were arrested and put into an israeli detention center, where hundreds of asylumseekers launched a hunger strike. In bahrain, human rights activist nabeel rajab has been sentenced to five years in prison for tweeting about the u. S. Backed saudiled bombing campaigns killing of civilians in yemen and alleged torture in bahrains notorious jaw prison. Amnesty International Said this sentence demonstrates the authorities ruthless determination to crush all forms of dissent and leaves no room for doubt about the extreme lengths to which they are willing to go to in order to silence peaceful critics. Rajab has been imprisoned multiple times in recent years for participating in prodemocracy protests and for criticizing the bahraini government. The United Nations Refugee Agency is warning hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes in the democratic republic of congo, amid an escalation in violence in the drc Southeast Region in recent months. Survivors report killings and rape by armed militias. This is a human rights activist. , it is an economic war something we have in our cell phones and computer. And i think like all of the countries, you know in all of the western countries, they dont not want this war to end because they want they want a mess so they can continue to plunder congo. Still using terror. If you look at the map and you see where rapes are committed, it is all around mines. Amy back in the United States, the state of minnesota has reached an 850 million settlement with the company 3m over allegations the company contaminated Drinking Water by dumping toxic chemicals called pfcss in landfills for decades since the 1950s. The high profile case was expected to go to trial today. The Minnesota State attorney general says the pfcs caused high rates of cancer and premature births after the contaminated the Drinking Water. And journalisms prestigious george polk awards have been announced. Among the winners, jodi kantor and megan twohey of the New York Times and ronan farrow of the new yorker, who won for exposing hollywood mogul Harvey Weinsteins decades of rape, Sexual Assault, and Sexual Harassment. Another winner was the intercepts iona craig, who won for her expose of a deadly navy seal raid on a village in yemen. This is iona craig talking about the raid on democracy now the rich when he six people in the village who were killed. Many of those were women and children. That village has essentially been abandoned now because not only after that raid happened, not only was the entire village raised more than 120 livestock were killed, but the u. S. Went back a month later at the beginning of march and bonded for four consecutive nights you both with drone strikes and helicopter gunfire, and killed two more children and several more adults. So the last person i spoke to who was living there, he then left the village and is now living under trees several miles away. Amy for the full interview, you can go to democracynow. Org. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We begin todays show with the Sexual Abuse Scandal engulfing the British Charity oxfam. Oxfam has been hit with dozens more misconduct allegations involving a slew of countries in the days since the times of london revealed oxfam tried to cover up sex crimes by senior aid workers in haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake. On tuesday, oxfams leadership was questioned by british lawmakers in the parliament and oxfam apologized for it its failure to report Sexual Misconduct to haitian authorities. Prostitution is illegal in haiti, but oxfam refused to report the activity of its aid workers to haitian police. This is the british parliaments International Development committee questioning oxfams chief executive Mark Goldring. Prostitution is illegal in haiti. Shouldnt oxfam have reported the matter anyway . Oxfam should have reported the matter to the haitian authorities. It was not oxfam to decide whether a crime had been committed or not, but something that was serious that undermined the rule of law and Public Confidence in haiti should have been reported to the relevant haitian authorities. Apologize that oxfam did not do that. Amy on monday, oxfam released its own internal report into the sex scandal. It concluded senior aid workers at oxfam, including the country director in haiti hired , prostitutes at oxfam properties and then tried to cover it up. Oxfams internal report includes claims that three oxfam Staff Members physically threatened a witness during the charitys internal investigation. Haiti has threatened to expel oxfam from the country. This is haitis external cooperation minister, aviol fleurant. They admitted there is evidence that oxfam u. K. Was informed these crimes occurred. What hurt me as they admitted that haitian a 30s had at no time been informed by oxfam haiti. And the roughly 7000 people have canceled a donation to oxfam since the scandal broke. This comes as another wellknown shared it, save the children, is also facing a growing scandal. The charity has told british authorities it has dismissed 30 employees after 120 misconduct complaints. Save the children has also apologized to female employees who complained about the former head of the organization and justin forsyth. For more, were joined now by three guests. From london, sean oneill is with us. The chief reporter at the Times Newspaper in london, which broke the story of oxfam and save the children scandals. In miami, florida, we are joined by Edwidge Danticat, haitianamerican novelist. Author of a number of books, including the farming of bones, which won an american book award. Danticats new book is the art of death writing the final story. She just returned from haiti. And here we have taina bien aime, executive director of coalition against trafficking in women. We welcome you all to democracy now lets go to london where this story was exposed by sean oneill and the team at the times of london. Can you talk about the chronology of what you found out of what you found out and when he founded out . This story took quite a long time to piece together. I had been working on it for proximally 10 months a approximately 10 months. Totook quite a long time pursue that person to give me more detail. In october last year, we ran a story about the treatment of oxfams country director in nigeria, who was sexually assaulted while attending a conference in oxford in 2010. Inwas her first time britain. She reported the Sexual Assault to her managers at oxfam. The assault was allegedly carried out by one of for senior managers. She was not told to go to the police. She was not told to make a formal complaint. She was asked were advised to try to settle it informally. Three months later, she was sacked by the man she alleges had sexually assaulted her. And oxfamn that story admitted they had got things wrong, that kind of opened the door to all of other people to come to us with more information. One of the first things that came out was quite a lot of concern about what happened in when at the time oxfam had put out a statement , seven menn people had been either dismissed or allowed to resign for gross misconduct in bringing oxfam into disrepute. But they did not go into the detail of what happened. We managed to track down several p