Amy movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is fired by his own company as more and more women come forward accusing him of harassment, s sexual asassault,d rarape. We will speak with Louise Godbold who wrote my encounter with Harvey Weinstein and what it tells us about trauma. Anand we will talk to pspsycholy professor Tomiann Roberts, who will describe her encounter with weinstein more than 30 years ago lost up she now focuses on ofsychological consequences the sexual objectification of women and girls. And we will talk to journalist and author irin carmon, he says women should not trust the men who cacall themselves allies. S. And asas nbc newss repororts president trumump called f for a neararly tenfold incncrease in e u. S. Nuclear weapons arsenal, is President Trump taking us to war . Military pundits say yes. Brian inescapably, we are sliding toward war. I think part of the problem is going to be North Koreans over the last 50 years, have learned gaincan provoke, talk, compensation, and provoked again. In the go meanwhile, the u. S. Is struggling to recover from a series of hurricanes and a 10th hurricane this year, ophelia, has just been named. As fires consume northern california. We will speak with Robert Jay LiftonTomiann Roberts, author of we will speak with Robert Jay Lifton, author of many books. His new book is titled the climate swerve reflections onn mind, hope, and survival. All of that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In california, the death toll from the wildfires burning statewide has risen to 23 people, with hundreds more still missing. The nearly two dozen fires have consumed more than 170,000 acres, destroyed thousands of structures, and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. More than 8000 firefighters are currently battling the blazes, working up to 80hours straight. Among them are prisoners, who are working for as little as a 1 a day. The firefighters have more than 500 fire engines, 7373 helicopts and 30 airplanes, yet the uncontrollable fires are still spreading. Calfire chief ken pimlott said, these fires are literally just burning faster than firefighters can run. This is pimlott. We are still impacted by five years of drought. The significant rain we had last winter, those effects are gone of that moisture and were literally looking at explosive vegetation. These fires are burning actively during the day and at night when one would expect a fire to subside. And make no mistake, this is a serious, critical, catastrophic event. Amy some of the most destructive fires are in sonoma county, where officials are investigating pacific gas and electric co. Power lines as the potential source of the fire. On sunday night as the fires began, there were multiple reports of downed power lines and exploding electrical transformers. Pacific gas and electric co. s failure to properly maintain its power lines has sparked fires in the past, including the 2015 fire that killll two people. President trump has threatened to retaliate against nbc, following nbcs report that trump is seeking to increase tenfold the United StatesNuclear Weapons arsenal. On wednesday, trump tweeted with all of the fake news coming out of nbc and the networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their license . Bad for country the federal government licenses television airwaves through the fcc. Trump went on to tweet network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public the threats drew immediate concerns trump is undermining the First Amendment. This is constitutional lawyer floyd abrams. The idea of any president saying that broadcast licenses ought to be at risk because he disapproves of their News Coverage raises really dangerous First Amendment issues. Thisis is unadulterated ricichad nexen. This is precisely the sort of thining that the nexen admininistration dead, threateng broadcasters with antitrust actions, threatening them with taking the license away all to get better coverage. It is the most direct sort of threat to the first amendmement that President Trump has made since he was sworn in. Amy the magazine vanity fair reports that some of President Trumps closest aides and advisers say he is unstable and ununraling, and ththat the white house is increasingly consumed by chaos. Accordrding to the article, forr white house chief strategist ststeve bannon reportedly said e thinks trump has only a 30 chance of finishing his first term, and that the threat is the 25th amendment the right for cabinet members to vote to remove the president. When bannon mentioned the 25th amendment to trump, the president reportedly said whats that . Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports one of trumps clososest friends,s, tomarrack, saysys hs shocked by trumps behavior. World leaders, senior u. S. Officials, and u. S. Lawmakers are all pressuring President Trump not to decertify the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with iran, which trump is expected to do as early as friday. Among those pressuring trump is former israeli Prime Minister ehud barak, known as a antiiran hawk, who nonetheless is calling the proposed withdrawal a mistake, saying u. S. Defense secretary james mattis has also urged trump to stick with the deal, and the Trump Administration has certified that iran has complied with its obligations. In hollywood, new revelations about Harvey Weinstein have surfaced, showing that his studio, Weinstein Company, knew for at least two years that weinstein had been paying off women who accused him of Sexual Harassmentnt and assssault. Weinstein has been fired from the company as a slew of hollywoods top actresses publicly accused him of harassment and assault, and rape. Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and rose mcgowan. Many are asking why Manhattan District Attorney cyrus vance refused d to prosecute weinstein after hehe confessed to grgropig filipinaitalian model Ambra Battilana gutierrez in a audio recording captured in a 2015 new york police sting operation. One of weinsteins lawyeyers at the time donated 10,00000 to vances Election Campaign only days after vance decided not to prosecute the case. We will have more on highbury Harvey Weinstein after headlines. In syria, the u. S. Led Coalition Fighting isis in raqqa say wednesday it will not accept a negotiated withdrawal to end the fighting in the northeastern syririan city that was o once s de facto capital. Thousands of civiliaians remain trapped in the 2. 5. 5 square mils still controlled by isis. Activists say more than 1000 civilians have already been killed since the u. S. Led offensive to seize control of the city began in june. The journalistic Monitoring Group airwars says dozens of civilians ha reportedldly been killed i in the last w week, including in a barrage off airstrikes october 6, which reportedly collapsed a a numberf apartment buildingngs, killing p to 40 people. Meanwhile, in Eastern Syria of , tens thousands of civilians have been displaced by fighting against isis in deir ezzor. This is alaa, speaking from a makeshift camp. Papers started falling down as from a planene saying to surrender r yourselves and you and feel safety there medical care f for sick childre. You jujust have to wave e the we flag. We did as ththey told us and showed up. P. On the road,d, i encounterered landmines and suffered from cold and hunger. This road is called the death road. If we stay here, this is death. Amy President Trump says he plans to nominate Kirstjen Nielsen to serve as the Homeland Security secretary. John kelly, trumps previous Homeland Security secretary, now serves as trumps chief of staff. Nielsen is a longtime dhs official, recently serving as kellys chief of staff. Under president george w. Bush, she was the senior director for preparedness and response at the White House Security council ahead of hurricane katrina. She was subsequently singled out in congressional reports as one of the key figures in the Bush Administration who had been warned about the impending catastrophe of katrina, but fafailed to act. Shes also worked in the forprofit security industry, first at a firm called civitas group, and then founding the Security Firm sunesis consulting. The boy scouts have announced they plan to accept girls into the Program Beginning next year. This comes after the boy scouts first ended its ban on openly gagay boy y scou, and th transgender scouts. And today, the state of texas is plananning to execute robert pruett. He has been imprisoned since he was 15 years old. He was sentenced to death for the murder of a prison guard. He has a was maintained his innocence, saying it was framed by corrupt prison guards. There is a physical evidence tying him to the murder. 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 viewewers from around the country and around the world. Today we look at the fallout from two shocking investigations by the new yorker and the New York Times, which revealed a slew of rape and Sexual Assault allegations against disgraced and nowfired movie producer Harvey Weinstein, who had been one of the most powerful men in hollywood for decades. Weinstein has also been a major contributor to the democratic party. This week, the new yorker reported three women say Harvey Weinstein raped them, while more say weinstein masturbated in front of them or forcibly touched them without their consent. Among the accusers is former aspiring actress l lucia evans, who o says s she had just finisd her junior year at Middlebury College when she was invited to a daytime meeting with weinstein at the miramax office. She said he pushed her head down and forced me to perform oral sex on him. I said, over and over, i dont want to do this, stop, dont. i tried to get away. Hes a big guy. He overpowered me. Another woman, who was not named, says weinstein forced himself on her during a meeting and raped her while she repeatedly said no. Like others in the article, she says she did not report the alleged rape and forced herself to continue to have professional contact with weinstein because i was in a vulnerable position and i needed my job. It just increases the shame and the guilt. The article also reveals audio from a 2015 nypd sting operation, in which weinstein confesses to groping filipinaitalian model Ambra Battilana gutierrez. The recording starts with weinstein. Nermeen while this was from a nypd sting operation, no charges were brought. On wednesday, Manhattan District Attorney cyrus vance defended his offices decision not to prosecute weinstein. If we had a case that we felt we couldld prosecute, my experts that we could prosecute against Harvey Weinsteinin, we would. We really are based d on the facts, not what people think about it, not whether people like party or not. He has some serious issues. I have to bebe guided by the evevidence and the evividence oe crime. Amy the New York Timeses reports weinststein was represented in talalks with the district a attorneys officece y two defense lawyers with ties to cycy vance. One e of the lawyers at ththe te donated 1010,000 to his campain just days after vance dedecided not to p prosecute the case. The new yorker reports 16 current or former employees of weinsteins Companies Say they personally knew about weinsteins assaults or harassment. Today the New York Times reported weinsteins company has been aware of seveveral confidential settlements he made with women since 2015. Meanwhile, a slew of hollywoods most highprofile actresses have told the New York Times they too experienced weinsteins harassment. Among them ashley judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, rose mcgowan, and pulp fiction star rosanna arquette. Paltrow said were at a point in time when women need to send a clear message that this is over. This way of treating women ends now. On wednesday, rose mcgowan reported that her twitter account had been suspended. Mcgowan had been using twitter support other women who have come forward and to attack those she saw as complicit, including the Weinstein Company board of directors and high p profile actors matt damon and ben affleck. Rose mcgowan accused ben a afflk of lying a about his knowledge f weinsteins history of sexual misconduct. Weinsteins wife, georgina chapman, a wellknown fashion designer, says shes ending their 10year marriage. On tuesday, former president barackck obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton both condemned weinstein, who has been a major democratic donor. In a statement, obama said he and michelle have been disgusted by the reports and said any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth or status. For more, were joined by several guests. Joining us via democracy now video streaming colorado is tomimiann roberts, who says s e harassed by harvevey weinstein more than 30 years ago in 1984 when she was an aspiring actress. Her work focuses on the psychological consequences of the sexual objectification of women and girls. In los angeles, were joined by Louise Godbold, who wrote about her experience titled my encounter with Harvey Weinstein and what it tells us about trauma. She is the executive director of echo parenting education. And here in new york, irin carmon is a contributing writer at the Washington Post. Her piece is headlined women , shouldnt t trust the memen wo call themselves allies. She is also the author of the New York Times bestseller, notorious rbg the life and times of ruth bader ginsberg. We welcome you all to democracy now Tomiann Roberts, Louise Godbold, irin carmon. Tomiann roberts, lets begin with you. Lets begin with what happened to you more than 30 years ago in 1984. How did you comeme in contact wh Harvey Weinstein . Well, the stories are beginning to sound monotonous, right . Chillingly familiar. I was waiting tables. I was a student at Smith College and several friends and i had decided to spend the summer in new york city pursuing our dream. So we sublet an apartment. I was waiting tables at a restaurant, and that is where i met both top and Harvey Weinstein. They were relative newcomers o n the scene. Explained to me their new company miramax. And pretty soon, i was given to believe that i might be someone who could audition for a movie they were going to be writing and directing. It would have been their first movie they were writing and directing here in the United States. I think i thought to myself, such a new Company Might not take such a new unknown person for granted, so i decided that i would try to audition for that movie. Throughout the course of the summer, i received scripts. I did visit the office on occasion. Then i was invited to what i believed was harveys apartment. My expectation was that others involved in the movie would be there as well, and that turned out not to be the case. Rather darkened hallway i discovered him in the bathtub. Mightncounter, as you imagine, was petrifying to a 20yearold. I sort of stood there frozen. Calmeinstein was quite about trying to explain to me that if i would at least take my top off, this would demonstrate to him that i wasnt going to be shy about doing so in front of the cameras. The movie was likely to have topless scenes. And looking back, as i said in several interviews now, i am slightly ashamed to think that the only way i could imagine getting out of there was not running, but rather politely sort of selfeffacing the apologogizing for the f fact thi did not feel comfortable with that. And did eventually exit found a pay phone and called my boyfriend. Basically, through my acting aspirations in the waste basket. Amy you had actually gone back to one of your tryouts, your additions w