In flooded jails. In nfl star Michael Bennett speaks out after being taken down and assaulted by police in las vegas. He said one officer threatened off. Ow my effing head a lot of people have lived that experience and are not here to tell their story. I think about trayvon martin. I think about Philando Castile. Samir rice. So many people who had the experience i had better not here to tell the story. So that is what it is. Amy them we look at segregation in alabama. And the name of the greatest people that have ever draw this area, i joined a line in the segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. Amy that was alabama governor George Wallace in 1963. We will speak to New York Times magazine reporter Nikole Hannahjones about how segregation is returning to alabamas public schools. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Hurricane irma, thmost powerful atlantic storm ever recorded, laid waste to parts of the caribbean overnight, pummeling turks an turks and caicos. The storms death toll rose to 18, but officials warned that figure will increase as rescue workers search or the rubble of islands that have seen over 90 of all buildings destroyed. Irma we can slightly as it pushed west and was downgraded friday from category 5 to category 4. It remains dangerous with sustained winds of 155 osprey our. The storm lashed the northern Dominican Republic and flooded thursday parts of haiti overnight, but irmas eye passed ,ell north of hispaniola sparing the two countries from the worst of the hurricanes wrath. In south florida, freeways jammed with cars thursday and friday as officials ordered the evacuation of over half Million People. The eye of the storm is projected to strike florida early sunday morning as a category 4, delivering storm surge of 10 feet or higher. In mmi beach, ich averages three feet above sea level mayor , Philip Levine told a local reporter irma is an existential threat. We have talked to people in ur city who say, we ain going. I hate to hear that. Im going to do everything imy power to convince them this is a nuclear hurricane. They must leave the beach. Amy the National WeatherService Warns of likely structural damage to even sturdy buildings, with the complete destruction of mobile homes likely. Elsewhere Florida Power light , said thursday it was shutting down a pair of Nuclear Power plants ahead of the storm. The twinreactor turkey point plant, which is 20 feet above sea level, lies just south of miami on the coast, directly in the path of irmas expected landfall. Further north on Floridas Atlantic coast is the twinreactor st. Lucie nuclear plant. In order to avoid meltdowns, both plants must maintain constant power to ensure the cooling off of Nuclear Fuel Rods in their reactors, as well as highly radioactive spent fuel rods kept in storage pools on site. Meanwhile, forecasters warned hurricane katia could strengthen in the warm waters of the western gulf of mexico into a major hurricane before it makes landfall in the mexican state of veracruz, south of floodravaged texas, which is still reeling from mass flooding after harveys landfall less than two weeks ago. And in the eastern caribbean, hurricane jose is threatening to bring fierce winds and a storm surge to the island of barbuda, which Hurricane Irma damaged 95 of the islands buildings after it hit on tuesday. The unprecedented hurricanes come as a study finds Climate Change is driving the mass extinction of parasites that are critical to natural ecosystems, and could add to the planets sixth great mass extinction event thats currently underway. The report in the journal science advances warns about a third of all parasite species could go extinct by 2070 due to human activity. The loss of species of lice, fleas, and worms could have profound ripple effects on the environment and might pave the way for new parasites to colonize humans and other animals with disastrous health outcomes. In texas, seven emergency workers are suing the Arkema Chemical Company after they were exposed to toxic chemicals and hospitalized after an explosion at plant outside houston that was flooded by waters from Hurricane Harvey. At least two tons of volatile chemicals known as organic peroxides burned after cooling systems at the plant failed. Attorneys y the First Responders were never told about the ngers of the resulting chemical plume, which fema director brock long lar called incredibly dangerous. The arkema plant is in crosby, texas. To see our toxic tour of the petro metro, you can go to democracynow. Org. In mexico, the strongest earthquake in a century struck off the west coast early friday, leveling buildings in the impoverished states of chiapas and oaxaca and triggering tsunami warnings across the pacific. The quake struck at a shallow depth of just 43 miles, making it particularly dangerous. There were early reports of at least 15 deaths, but that toll is expected to rise dramatically after the u. S. Geological survey warned of mass casualties and said the disaster is likely widespread. The quake triggered Pacific Ocean tsunami sensors, but mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto later said the waves were not as high as feared and major damage from tsunamis was unlikely. The quake is so powerful, it rattled buildings, broke windows and knocked out power in parts , of mexico city more than 450 miles away. Syrias government is accusing israel of bombing a military Scientific Research center in the west of syria that israeli officials accuse of producing chemical weapons and missiles that could be used to deliver them. Syrias government said the attack could bring dangerous repercussions to the security and stability of the region. The israeli airstrikes came a day after u. N. Investigators concluded syrias air force used the nerve gas sarin in an attack in april that killed at least 83 people in the rebelheld town of khan sheikhoun. The u. N. Said it was one of at least 20 chemical weapons attacks by the Syrian Government during the conflict. President trump welcomed kuwaits em to the white house thursday, saying he was epared to help mediate a dispute the gulf kingdom and its allies have with qatar which trump has accused of supporting terrorism. President trump also praised kuwaits monarch for purchasing u. S. Made weapons, including warplanes. Pres. Trump kuwait has purchased tremendous amount of military equipment and other 77s f18smany 7 from us. We will be talking about additional orders and military orders. Amy kuwait is a member of the saudiled military coalition that has been bombing yemen since march of 2015. This week, the u. N. Said the airstrikes were responsible for most of the 1100 killed during the war, calling ongoing famine and a cholera epidemic in yemen an entirely manmade catastrophe. Doctors without borders warned thursday migrants rescued at sea while attempting to cross the mediterranean from north africa should be allowed to seek asylum in europe, rather than the returned to libya where they face sexual violence, torture and forced labor. , the humanitarian groups president , dr. Joanne liu, said in an open letter thursday that European Union authorities are feeding a criminal system of abuse by returning migrants to libya. Today, we are making a public appeal, sending this open letter to governments in europe, asking leaders to publicly position themselves on what is happening in libya today. Are they ok with containing and sending people back to where they will be raped, tortured, and enslaved . Amy the warning by Doctors Without Borders came a day after the European Court of justice struck down a legal challenge brought by hungary and slovakia over the European Unions mandate mandatory refugee quota poli, which orders National Governments to take in their ir share of asylum seekers. Back in the u. S. , a federal court struck another blow thursday to president trumps ban on refugees and travelers from six majoritymuslim nations. The unanimous ruling by three judges on the ninth Circuit Court of appeals rejected an attempt by the Trump Administration to deny visas to grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who wish to travel from the affected countries to join relatives living in the u. S. The Justice Department said it will challenge the latest ruling on the travel ban when the Supreme Court hears the case next month. In health care news, massachusetts democratic senator Elizabeth Warren said thursday she will cosponsor a bill by firman senator Bernie Sanders that would expand medicare to include every american. The measure, which sanders is expected to introduce later this month, would provide universal health care by lowering the age of medicare eligibility from 65 to zero. Other democratic senators, including californias Kamala Harris and montanas jon tester have said they might support the , bill. In West Virginia, prosecutors have dropped charges against journalist dan heyman of public news service, who was arrested in may and charged with willful well questioning secretary tom price inside the West Virginia state capitol. Heymans arrest came as he pressed price about whether Domestic Violence would be categorized as a preexisting condition under the republican proposed healthcare bill. Heyman told reporters he was relieved after thursdays decision to drop charges, saying facing six months of jail time for asking a question as a journalist was pretty troubling. Education secretary betsy devos said thursday the Trump Administration will roll back rules aimed at protecting survivors of Sexual Assault on college campuses. E move reverses president obamas 2011 directive on title ix, the federal law that prohibits sexbased discrimination at schools. Speaking in arlington, virginia, devos said the changes were denying Due Process Rights to those accused of rape and Sexual Misconduct on campuses. Through intimidation and coercion, the failed system has clearly pushed schools to overreach. With the heavy hand of washington tipping the balance of her scale, the sad reality is, lady justice is not blind on campuses today. Amy the education secretary betsy devos comments drew protests from survivors of campus Sexual Assault who rallied outside the building at George Mason University where devos delivered her remarks. This is sofie karasek of the group eroc, thats end rape on campus. What she is trying to do is to the skills in favor of perpetrators. She is siding with rate this. That is what she decided to do today. And we as survivors ands students and allies, we are not going to stand for that. We will not go back to the days when all youre getting for committing rape was either and an or a 20 fine essay assignment. Amy in privacy news, the Credit Reporting Agency equifax said on Software Vulnerability left thursday a personal information for 143 Million People exposed to hackers in one of the largest data breaches in u. S. History. Equifax said the information included Social Security numbers, drivers license informatio credit rd numbers and other data. , bloomberg reports that just days after learning of the breach, three top equifax executives sold about 1. 8 million worth of the companys stock, yet waited over a month to inform the public. Equifaxs share price plummeted overnight after news of the data breach broke, losing nearly 15 of its value. And in the philippines, president Rodrigo Duterte takes son told Senate Investigators he played no part in the scheme to ship more than 125 million in Illegal Drugs from china. They presence here is for filipino people and to those whom i serve. , but i cannoty answer allegations based on hearsay. He and the soninlaw face allegations they helped arrange for the shipments of crystal methamphetamine last may. Since president duterte launched socalled war on drugs in the philippines last year, Security Forces and vigilantes have killed more than 7000 suspected drug dealers and users. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodma as the National Football league begins its new season, one of its most outspoken players has revealed he was recently detained and assaulted a police in las vegas. Seattle seahawks star Michael Bennett issued a statement on twitter wednesday writing that an officer threatened to blow my effing head off and that Las Vegas Police officers singled me out and pointed their guns at me for doing nothing more than simply being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time. The incident took place outside a boxing match last month. Police were responding to reported gunshotin las vas. Vio releas by tmz shows Michael Bennet on the ground being handcuffed. Listen closely. I wasndoing nothing, man. I was it with my friends. Everybody r. Okman. Amy n wedneay, michl bennt held a pss conrence to talk about what happened. Obviously, i would hate to be up here through the circumstances talking about it. It is a traumatic express for me, my family. Ks you get profiled for the color of your skin. It is a tough situation for me. There are a lot of people who experience what i experienced at that moment and they are not here to tell their story. I think about trayvon martin. I think about Philando Castile t,amir rice. Submitted people who of the experience i had and they are not here to tell this story. Though that is what it is. Im just lucky to be here to be able to speak about it. At any moment i could have made and theg decision seahawks would be wearing the patch with number 72 on it. Im lucky to be here now and to continuously fight for people, fight for the equality of all people, regardless of their color and gender, regardless of all that. Im going to continuously do what i have been doing. It is a hard journey. Sometimes you feel like you are alone, but there are a lot of people who support me. At this point, it is the reality where i live in every day. I think a lot of people as a black man, you fear sometime what can happen to you, the possibilities if you are in the wrong situation at the wrong time. You hope and you wish that everything Martin Luther king said or the people before me, we hope that we would be judged on the content of character, not the color of your skin. Sometimes you get judged on that. That is the reality i live in host of when people ask why so down, this is why. This is what people that go through that look like me. Amy that is Seattle Seahawks nfl star Michael Bennett. The Las Vegas Police union has accused bennett of making false accusations against the officers. Bennett has a long record of speaking out against racial and social injustice. He has joined a protest movement led by former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick against racial injustice, sitting on the sidelines during the playing of the National Anthem ahead of seahawks games. For more, we go to washington, where we are joined by dave zirin, a Sports Editor for the nation magazine. He is also the host of edge of sports. Zirin is working on a book with Michael Bennett about bennetts life, things that make white people uncomfortable. Welcome to democracy now youain exactly when understand this happened. I think you talked to Michael Bennet that night. This was at the famous boxing match that took lace in las vegas . Yes, this saturday before last, the famous mayweathermacgregor match in las vegas. I received phone calls from friends of Michael Bennett and a text from michael saying what happened immediately. And what happened sounded incredibly traumatic. I want to Say Something to democracy now listeners. People have done understand Michael Bennet, as he so does you so beautifully laid out, he is one of us. He is the soul of an activist. He has stood with people from