President ial candidates appeared for the first time on the same stage thursday night sparring over immigration, Foreign Policy , health care, and president obamas legacy. I think we e should have a debate on health care. She isthe senator says for bernie. I am for barack. I think obamacare worked. Insurance Companies Last year billions of dollars in profit out of the system. How did they make that money . Everyone of those 23 billion was m made by an insurance compy saying no to your health care. Amy we will air highlights from the houston debate and host a roundtable discussion. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In texas, the ten leading democratic president ial candidates appeared for the first time on the same stage together thursday night at a debate at Texas Southern university in houston. It was the third debate of the primary season but marked the first time former Vice President joe biden and senator Elizabeth Warren shared the stage. Biden repeatedly defended the policies of former president obama as he clashed with his rivals over immigration and health care. Biden and other candidates targeted vermont senator Bernie Sanders over his medicare for all bill, as well as massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, who supports it. Sanders had the Current Health care system is a disaster. We need a Health Care System that guarantees health care to all people as every other major country does, not a system which provides 100 billion a year in profits for the Drug Companies and the insurance companies. Tell you how absurd the system is tonight on abc, the Health Care Industry will be advertising telling you how bad medicare for all is because they want to protect their profits. That is absurd. Amy after the headlines, we will spend the rest of the air airing highlights of thursday nights debates and host a roundtable discussion. Hours before thursdays debate got t underway, nenearly a dozon grgreenpeacece activists rappeld off the Fred Hartmann bridge above the houston ship channel, in a nonviolent civil disobedience action that brought shipping traffic to a halt in the largest oil export channel in the United States. The protesters were calling for president ial candidates to supporort the e Green New Deal d for a Just Transition away f frm fossil fuels. One of the activists, piper, streamed the action live on social media. All of the Major Oil Companies depend on this terminal. Bp, shell,es exxon, chevron. They all depend on this terminal. And right now we are shutting it down. Amy by late thursday, police had arrested at least 15 of the activists. The Harris CountySheriffs Office says theyll face a number of charges related to obstruructing roadways and waterways. The uniteded nations is warninig 2. 2 2 Million People are expectd to go hungry in somalia and are at risk of starvation, amid a massive drought thats withered crops, bringing harvests in the east african nation to 70 below average in some areas. The u. N. Reports unreliable weather patterns and climatic shocks have coupled with widespread poverty to trap millions of somalis in severe hunger and malnutrition. This comes as a new report finds extreme weather events around the globe displaced a record 7 million p people duringng the first sisix months of f the yea. Ththe internal Displacement Monitoring Centre warns in its midyear report in todays changing climate, mass displacement triggered by extreme weather events is becoming the norm. The house of representatives voted thursdsday to o block the Trump Administration from opening up alaskas anwr the Arctic National wildlife refuge to oil and gas exploration. The bill had the support of native alaskans who depend on migrating caribou herds for their subsistence. Members of the Gwichin Steering Committee traveled to washington, d. C. , this week to lobby for the drilling ban. They said in a statement the gwichin and caribou have had a spiritual and cultural connection since time immemorial, the future of caribou and the future of the gwichin are the same. Harm to the caribou is harm to the gwichin way of life. A companion bill to ban drilling in anwr is not expected to pass the republicancontrolled senate. This comes as Trump Administration has announced its final plan to offer oil and gas lease sales across more than a millionandahalf acres of anwrs coastal plains. The plan calls for the creation of landing strips, drill pads, pipeline supports, a seawater treatment plant, 175 miles of roads, and other infrastructure in pristine wilderness along alaskas north coast. Here in new york city, Public School administrators say they will not mark students as absent if they have a parent or guardians permission to join the Global Climate strike on friday, september 20. The youthled protest will come just days before World Leaders gather for a Global Climate summit at the United Nations headquarters. The strike was inspired by Greta Thunberg, a teenage climate activist who last year began skipping classes each friday to protest outside the Swedish Parliament demanding action on catastrophic Climate Change. She spoke on democracy now earlier this week after she sailed across the atlantic to attetend u. N. , talks and join protest in the u. S. This friday the 13th im going to join the School Strike for the climate outside the white house in washington, d. C. Amy the head of amnesty international, kumi naidoo, sent a letter to 30,000 schools around t the world asking them o allow students to join climate strikes worldwide. The Trump Administration says it has finalized the repeal of an obamaera clean water policy that protects thousands of streams that flow into large rivers and lakes, as well as wetland areas that filter polluttsts andbsororb flooooaters. Environmtatal prectitiongencyy administrar r andr wheheel, a former cl l lobbst, annoced the rulehange thsday to thundero applausduring a evenat the hdquarterof the nation associaon of mafacturerin washiton, d. C. Vironmenlists satrumps ve to reind the 15 regulaon, knowas waterof the uned staterule, wi remove pollution controls for 60 of u. S. Bodies of water, endangering the Drinking Water of over 100 0 Million Peoplele. The Trump Administration will allow a michigan man to import the remains of a critically endangered black rhinoceros he shot and killed on a trophy hunt in namibia last year. A photo of circulated widely on social media shows the hunter chris peyerk and his family smiling as they pose over the corpse of the rhino. Conservation groups say only 5500 of the animals remain in the wild. President trump has repeatedly sought to ease u. S. Restrictions on the importation of animal remains. Trumps two adult sons, don jr. And eric, are longtime trophy hunters who have repeatedly posed for photos with dead animals they shot and killed in africa. On capitol hill, Democratic Congress members voted thursday to formally move forward with impeachment proceedings against president donald trump. Committee chair Jerrold Nadler said future inquiries would look beyond the findings of the mueller report. Have responsibility to consider allegations of election crimes, violations of the constitutions emoluments clause , and the failure to defend our nation from current and future attacks by foreign adversaries. Amy democrats remain divided over whether to even call the judiciary committees expanded powers of investigation an impeachment inquiry. On thursday, Democratic House speaker nancy pelolosi abruptly ended d her Weekly Press Conference after a reporter asked whether the house is conducting a formal inquiry, refusing to answer the question. Mexicos foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard said thursday his nation will not change its immigration policies after the u. S. Supreme Court Allowed the Trump Administrations ban on most migrants seeking asylum at the u. S. Mexico border to take effect. The mexican governments position has been that we are not going to accept that. We consulted with the Mexican Senate and they will not accepted it, either. Amy this comes as tens of thousands of asylum seseekers ae stuck in border cities on the mexican side waiting to be processed for initial asylum proceedings in the United States. In the Tijuanasan Diego border alone, there are more than 10,000 migrants in the waiting list to turn themselves in to u. S. Immigration officials. The binational Legal Aid Group al otro lado tweeted we are the only on the Ground Organization here providing legal aid. This is a death sentence for most our clients. Our hearts are broken and were exhausted. And washington, d. C. , protesters rallied outside immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters thursday. This agency has done nothing but tear immigration families apart. Immmmigrant c community, people of color, that we are actually going to be truly free and united in this country that we call home is if congress stops funding agencies like this whose only mission is to tear our families apart. Amy protesters later marched to the washington, d. C. , home of amazon Ceo Jeff Bezos to protest the mega online retailers decision to continue providing ice with technology to enforce trumps zero tolerance immigration policies. In russia, police raided the homes and offices of activists at 200 sites across more than 40 cities and towns thursday, in the most massive sweep yet against political groups aligned with the Opposition Leader aleksei navalny. The government of president Vladimir Putin says the raids were part of a criminal moneylaundering investigation into navalnys anticorruption foundation. Also rated were the offices of golos, an independent election monitoring group. Opposition groups call the charges trumped up and say its an escalation of a crarackdown n kremlin opponents that included the mass arrest of more ththan 2000 people during recent protests in moscow. In iran, a woman who set herself on fire to p protest her arrrret for tryiying to attend a soccer match has died of her injuries. Sahar khodayari was jailed for three days in march after she disguised herself as a man and tried to enter a tehran soccer stadium. When she discovered that she faced up to two years in prison, she selfimmolated outside a courthouse in tehran. Her protest left her with burns on 90 of her body before she succumbed to her injuries on september 8. Iran has no written laws barring women from soccer stadiums, but Human Rights Watch says a de facto ban is ruthlessly enforced by authorities. Sahar khodayaris death drew widespread outrage by iranian social media users who gave her the nickname blue girl after her favoritete teams colors. Her death also drew protests against the International Soccer federation fifa, which is accused of failing to hold iran accountable for its discrimination against female fans and athletes. Human righghts groups s are calg on the bill and Melinda Gates foundation to rescind its award to indias hindu nationalist president narendra mododi. Modi is set to receive t the gas foundations global goalkeeper prize in new york city on september 24 for his public sanitation and hygiene program, which has brought toilet access to m mlions acroross india. Yale university epidemiologist gregg gonsnsalves called the awd outrageous, tweeting bill gates should be ashamed of himself. Narendra modi is not worthy of any award. He is a despotinthemaking, a human rights abuser. Everyone in Public Health should speak up. Modi was once banned from the United States on charges he did not intervene in a massacre against muslims in 2002 when he was governor of the indian state of gujarat. In august, modi revoked limited autonomy for indianadministered kashmir, arresting thousands of people, setting up roadblocksks, imposing curfews, and cutting off the internet and other communications. Back in the United States, california lawmakers voted wednesday to ban private prisons statewide in a major blow to the forprofit prison industry in the u. S. The legislation also orders the closure four ice prisons that can jail up to 4500 immigrants. The bill now heads to governor gavin newsom for his signature. Newsom said at in his inaugural address in january that california should end the outrage of private prisons once and for all. Meanwhile, california lawmakers have approved a bill cracking down on Gig Economy Companies that classify employees as independent contractors rather than hourly workers. Under the legislation, workers who are part of a companys main business, or who are directed by a companys managers, must classified as employees instead of contractors, beginning on january 1. Governor gavin newsom has promised to sign the bill, which could see thousands of workers win a guaranteed minimum wage and Workers Compensation insurance. Executives at the ridehailing apps uber and lyft said this week they have no plans to reclassify their drivers as employees. President trump has met with widespread protests thursday as he travel to baltimore for House Republican retreat. It was his first visit to baltimore since he insulted the city in a july tweet storm as a disgusting, rat, and rodent infested mess adding no human being would want to live there. It was part of an attack on elijah cummings, one of the most prominent africanamericans in congress. Thursdays protest against trump featured a giant inflatable effigy depicting the president as a rodent clutching a cell phone. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and i am one gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. The 10 leading democratic president ial candidates appeared for the first time on the same stage thursday night at a debate at Texas Southern university in houston. It was the third debate of the primary season, but it marked the first time former Vice President joe biden and senator Elizabeth Warren took part in the same debate. Biden repeatedly defended the policies of former president obama as he clashed with his rivals. In one of the most contentious moments of the debate, obamas former housing secretary Julian Castro questioned bidens memory during an exchange about their healthcare plans. The option im proposing is medicacare for all in a medicare for choice. If you want medicare, if you lose the job from your insurance from your employer, you automatically can buy into this. You dont have no no preexisting condition can stop you. You get covered, period. I want every single American Family to have a strong medicare plan available. If they choose to hold on to strong, solid private health insurance, i believe they should be able to do that. The difference between what i support and you support, Vice President biden, require them to opt in and i would not require them to opt in. They would automatically b be enrolled. That iss a big difference becaue Barack Obamas vision was not to leave 10 Million People uncovered. He wanted everything a person in this country covered. My plan would do that. Your plan would not. They do not have to buy in. You just said that two minutes ago. You just said they would have to buy in. If you qualify are youou forgetting what you said two minutes ago . Believe that you said two minutes ago that they had to buy and and now youre saying they dont have to. Youre forgetting that. Amy the Washington Post question the accuracy of castros comments and said he was incorrect that biden forgot something about his own plan. It was castro who forgot what biden said. Former texas congressman beto orourke received some of the loudest appla