Is threatening to quickly begin ifimpeach President Trump Vice President mike pence doesnt support removing him after supporters stormed the capitol. We will speak to nyu professor ruth benghiat, author of the new book strongmen how they rise, why they succeed, how they fall. I want to remind everyone that in january 2016 when he was on the campaign trail, he said i could stay on fit avenue and shoot someone and would not lose any followers. For me, this was a turning point. He was giving us a message he considered himself to be above the law. Amy plus, we will look at big techs response to the capitol insurrection. Twitter has permanently banned donald trump. The messaging app parler has gone offline after amazon, google, and apple withdrew support. And shopify has removed all stores affiliated with trump. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman. Momentum is building to remove President Trump from Office Following the violent attempted coup last wednesday that saw an angry mob of trumpbacked insurrectionists storm the capitol, resulting in five deaths. House democrats are introducing a resolution formally calling on Vice President mike pence to invoke the 25th amendment. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says if pence does not move to do so, the house will proceed with impeachment for the second time in trumps single term. Pence has reportedly not ruled out using the 25th amendment. California congressmember ted lieu said an article of impeachment with at least 210 cosponsors in the house will be introduced today. The draft resolution cites incitement of insurrection. Meanwhile, two republican senators have joined calls for trump to resign alaskas Lisa Murkowski and pennsylvanias pat toomey, who spoke on nbcs meet the press sunday. I think the best way for our tontry is for the president resign and go away as soon as possible. The president spiraled down into a kind of madness that was different. Amy republican senators ted cruz and josh hawley are also facing increasing pressure to resign over their obstruction of the certification of electoral votes. Over 5000 lawyers and law students have signed a petition urging their disbarment. As fear grows of an increasingly unhinged trump, house Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her caucus friday she had spoken to general mark milley, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, that safeguards are in place should trump seek to initiate a nuclear attack. Twitter permanently removed President Donald Trump from its platform friday, citing repeated violations of twitters terms of service and the risk he would further incite violence ahead of joe bidens inauguration on january 20. The band came a day after trump posted this video message to his twitter feed. Pres. Trump to all of my wonderful supporters, i know youre disappointed but i also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning. Amy twitters to permanently ban trump came amid a wave of suspensions and bans of trump social media sites, including facebook, instagram, youtube, tiktok, reddit, snapchat, and shopify. Meanwhile, apple, google, and Amazon Web Services ended their support for the social Media Network parler over the weekend, which bills itself as twitter without rules. The Companies Say parlers managers have consistently failed to halt threats of violence and calls for armed insurrection on the site. Parler was cofounded by publican don and trump supporter rebekah mercer, daughter of Hedge Fund Billionaire Robert Mercer. And in another move from big tech, the Payment Processing Company Stripe cut ts with the Trump Campaign, which has continued to fundraise, saying the Trump Campaign violated its policies against encouraging violence. We will host a debate later in the broadcast over twitter permanently barring donald trump. More information is emerging about the domestic terrorists behind the january 6 insurrection at the capitol. Over the weekend, authorities arrested eric munchel and larry brock, who were photographed in the Senate Chambers wearing Tactical Gear and carrying plastic handcuffs. Munchel carried a pistol on his hip. Others arrested include cleveland grover meredith, jr. , who threatened to shoot house Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the head on live tv. Arkansas progun richard barnett, who boasted of looting mail from pelosis office, and west virgia state laaker derricevans, whoivestream himself orming the capitol rioter Robert Keith Packer of virginia was arresd after he was filmed wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words camp auschwitz and work makes you free a reference to the nazi death camp. Also arrested was doug jensen, who was filmed chasing a black Police Officer up the stairs of the capitol, and trumpsupporting qanon conspiracy theorist Jacob Anthony chansley, who posed for photos on the senate dais carrying a spear and wearing a headdress made of coyote skin and buffalo horns. Details have emerged about the death of rosanne boyland, a 34yearold qanon and trump supporter from georgia who was trampled by the mob as it stormed the capitol. Boyland was photographed wednesday carrying a gadsden flag a revolutionarywar era emblem of a rattlesnake with the caption dont tread on me. The Southern Poverty Law Center is demanding an investigation into the Republican Attorney generals association, which set up robocalls urging Trump Supporters to join the january 6 insurrection in washington, d. C. The group is headed by Alabama Attorney general steve marshall. On sunday, hundreds of Police Officers lined the streets of washington, d. C. , in a funeral procession for brian sicknick, the capitol Police Officer killed when marauding trump domestic terrorists hit him in the head with a fire extinguisher. Sicknick was a military veteran who later became an opponent of the iraq war and george w. Bush and was an outspoken supporter of President Trump. A second capitol Police Officer died over the weekend. By suicide. 15year veteran Howard Liebengood reportedly took his own life saturday. On sunday, President Trump ordered the flag above the white house to be flown at halfstaff to honor the capitol Police Officers. He took the step three days after house Speaker Nancy Pelosi lowered the flag over the u. S. And i said nothingol publicly about their debts. Sheltering inrs protective isolation room as Trump Supporters rampaged through the capital. Video shows lawmakers refusing to wear face masks inside the cramped space. This comes as the United States reported over 300,000 new covid19 cases for the first time friday as the death toll is nearing 375,000. Daily new cases are on the rise in almost every state. As frustration mounts over the slow rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, president elect joe biden said he will release all available vaccines when he comes into office. Some Health Experts warn though the strategy could backfire if authorities fail to administer second doses in a timely manner. New york has loosened rules in recent days around who is eligible for vaccines after reports of medical providers throwing out doses because they could not find finding patients who matched governor cuomos strict vaccination guidelines. Teachers, pharmacy workers who interact with the public, and new yorkers 75 years and older are now able to get vaccinated. The Javits Center is that to become an Mass Vaccination Center here in new york city. In related news, data suggests that large numbers of frontline workers, including up to 40 of frontline workers in Los Angeles County and 60 of care home home care workers in ohio, are refusing the shot. Experts say more efforts are needed to understand the reasons behind this and to counteract the uncertainty. Around the world, global coronavirus cases have topped 90 million with deaths approaching 2 million. In britain, cases topped 3 million with over 81,000 deaths. London mayor sadiq khan says the city is at a crisis point and has declared a Major Incident as hospitals risk becoming overwhelmed. Japan said it found a new variant of the coronavirus in four passengers who recently arrived from brazil. Authoritiesay it has similaries to thosidentified in btain and sth africa t are still looking into whethe it causes more severe illness. China has sealed off two cities south of beijing as officials rush to contain its biggest outbreak in six months. Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced he is banning coronavirus vaccines from the u. S. And the u. K. Cuba said friday it had signed a deal with iran to transfer the technology for its covid19 vaccine candidate and will carry out trials in iran. Earlier federal prosecutors are honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez of taking bribes from drug traffickers and ordering local armed forces to protect cocaine labs and shipments. A motion filed in new york friday quotes hernandez saying he wanted to shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos by flooding the United States with cocaine. Hundred president honduran hernandez has been a loyal ally to the u. S. , receiving the support of the obama and Trump Administrations despite longstanding accusations of Human Rights Violations and involvement with drug cartels. In indonesia, searchandrescue operations continue after a boeing 737500 aircraft carrying over 60 passengers crashed into the java sea saturday, just four minutes after taking off from the capital jakarta. Authorities on sunday said they had found parts of the plane and its black boxes, with no sign of survivors. Among those on board were three babies and seven children. Its still unclear what triggered the crash. Secretary of state mike pompeo said the u. S. Will designate Yemens Houthi rebels as a terrorist grou aid groups warn the designation will only deepen the worlds worst humanitarian crisis by deterring outside actors from engaging with the group and carrying out essential transactions. The move could also hinder efforts of the Incoming Biden Administration to reestablish diplomatic ties with iran, which has ties to the houthis. In kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov declared victory in a snap president ial election that was called after protests toppled the government in the fall. Japarov was serving a jail sentence for kidnapping a provincial governor, a charge he denied, before protesters sprung him free in september and he was installed as both Prime Minister and president. Preliminary results show japarov received around 80 of votes in sundays election, with a turnout of around 40 . Econom news, t u. S. Lost 140,000 bs in dember. Bs helby women mostly tina andlack wom, with mostf th lost with rtaurant d bar works suffing the highesnumbers. This ces as thguardian reports arly eve state h failedo meet feral reirementso distrite enhaed unempyment benefits within tee weekso most recipien. Befits for se 14 million peop expiredn or befe december 26 a day before President Trump signed the latest stimulus bill into law, leading to lapses. Joe biden is unveiling his proposal this week to provide trillions of dollars in pandemic relief funds, which includes plans to increase direct relief to 2000 per person. Biden spoke friday as he formally introduced his economic team. Mr. Biden we need more direct relief flowing to families, Small Businesses including finishing the job of getting people that 2000 relief direct payment. 600 is not enough when you have to choose between paying rent, putting food on the table, keeping the lights on. Amy in cabinet news, joe biden will nominate former career diplomat William Burns to head the cia. Burns is president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and served in the u. S. Foreign service for over three decades. During president obamas administration, he was involved with talks that led to the landmark iran nuclear deal, which trump later unilaterally withdrew from. In an essay last year, burns wrote about trump and the elections if he loses, i doubt that he will suddenly embrace the traditional bipartisan commitment to effective transitions. At worst, hell seek to contest or undermine the result. The Washington Post is reporting trump pressured georgias top elections investigator to find the fraud in another phone call he made to georgia officials in an attempt to overturn election results. Experts say the call could constitute obstruction of justice or other criminal violations. In related news, the wall street journal reported white house officials pushed atlantas top federal prosecutor to step down ahead of Georgias Senate runoffs over concerns he wasnt doing enough to investigate trumps baseless claims of election fraud. U. S. Attorney pak, who was appointed by trump, resigned last monday. And sister helen prejean, one of the worlds bestknown antideathpenalty activists, is asking Justice Department attorneys to stand down from the three remaining federal executions scheduled to take place this week in the last days of trumps time in office. Stand down from these killings. Just walk away from them. Do your other work, but not this, she writes alongside the aclus denny leboeuf. Lisa montgomery is scheduled to become the first woman to be executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years tomorrow, tuesday. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman. When we come back, we talk about strongmen around the world and here at home. Stay with us. [music break] amy watch your step by ted hawkins. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is threatening to quickly impeach President Trump if Vice President mike pence doesnt support invoking the 25th amendment to remove trump from office. During an interview on 60 minutes, pelosi said trump should be prosecuted for his role inciting last weeks violent insurrection at the capitol that left five people dead, including a capitol hill Police Officer. In chargethe person of the executive branch is deranged, unhinged, ngerous president of the United States and a number of days until we can be protected from him. But he has done something so serious that there should be prosecution against him. Amy on friday, House Speaker pelosi spoke to chair of the joint chiefs of staff mark milley about ways to prevent trump from launching Nuclear Weapons in the closing days of his presidency. This comes as senators Lisa Murkowski and pat toomey have become the first republican senators to call for trump to resign. Murkowski has also suggested she may leave the republican party. Meanwhile, calls are growing for republican senators ted cruz and josh hawley to be expelled or to resign for supporting trumps effort to overturn the election and fanning the flames ahead of last weeks insurrection. Authorities are warning about more rightwing violence ahead of Inauguration Day on january 20. Over the weekend, federal investigators arrested a number of Trump Supporters who stormed the capitol, including two men who were photographed wearing Tactical Gear holding plastic zip tie handcuffs a sign the domestic terrorists may have been intending to take lawmakers hostage. Federal agents have also arrested a georgia man named Cleveland Meredith for sending a text message threatening to kill nancy pelosi on live tv. At the time of his arrest meredith had a glock handgun, a pistol, an assault rifle, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. On sunday, cnn aired shocking video of Trump Supporters grabbing a d. C. Metro Police Officer and pulling him down the Capitol Steps where he was beaten with American Flag pole. Investigations have also been launched into the role of activeduty soldiers and Police Officers in wednesdays riots. Even the president of the United States could Face Criminal Charges for inciting the insurrection. Last week, the top prosecutor in washington, acting u. S. Attorney michael sherwin, refused to rule out charging the president. President trump made no public remarks over the weekend after being permanently banned on twitter. On friday, he announced he would not attend bidens inauguration. To talk more about the insurrection at the capitol and the trump presidency, we are joined by ruth benghiat, a professor of history and italian studies at new york university. Author of the new book strongmen how they rise, why they succeed, how they fall. Her new piece for cnn is titled trumps end game . Power at all costs. Professor ruth benghiat, if you can start off by talking about what happened last week, this violent insurrection, still the department of homeland security, the president himself, the fbi, attorney general, none have made comment even though five people died, another Police Officer took his life, and we know the violence that now is becoming increasingly vivid as video after video is released. The events of january 6 are the product of two longterm objectives that trump has sought successfully. One is, like all strongmen who arrive on the scene, they legitimize existing extremism and antidemocratic tendencies. They give validation to the worst criminal elements in society. In fact, many strongmen, including trump, either come to power with a criminal record or under investigation. So the are criminal elements themselves. The other thing they do is and trump did this with the gop they glamorize and legitimize lawlessness. So lawmakers become lawbreakers. This has happened. Disturbing,icularly and i think we will have more, there is an Ap Investigation that has come out on who are these participants of the january 6 event . Those attempting to see them as which is scary enough as extremist and militia groups, white power, there were republican donors, republican officials, the luke perry, lawenforcement. So this means the threat to democracy does not outside our institutions only, it is coming from right. In this is a logical result of a policy that trump has followed very resolutely since he started signaling during his campaign to extremist groups but also made that statement you played at the top of the show about shooting someone. What he was saying in january 2016 is he was above the law and he was capable of violence and he would get away with it. Amy so lets talk about his heldys rally that was right before the marauders, the domestic terrorists, insurrectionists, whatever you want to call them, right before they marched to the capital. By the way, trump saying he would be with them. Of course, got in a car and safely watch from the white house. But lets turn to the video obtained by cnbc of trump and his family watching a live stream of the protrump socalled stop the steal rally at the capitol last week. This is donald trump, jr. And his girlfriend complete guilfoyle. A i think we are tminus couple of seconds. Tune in. One of the few, real fighter. Thank you, mark. Kimberly . Do the right thing1 fight . Amy and Rudy Giuliani addressing the crowd at wendys wednesdays socalled save america rally and washington, d. C. Over the next 10 days, we get to see the machines that are quickened, the balance that are fraudulent, and if we are wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we are right, a lot of them will go to jail. [cheers] have trial by combat amy trial by combat. This is Rudy Giuliani, President Trumps personal attorney, who apparently will be hired by President Trump, along with alan dershowitz, to defend him if there is an impeachment trial. If you can talk about what this insurrection looks like in World History you know, the revving on by another people inside but the inside, the leader of a country who refuses to accept democratic election . It iss classic interesting because in my book, in, he isto put trump using tactics from all three eras. He is the fascist era and a cap help but be reminded of the march on rome when mussolini was trying to take over trying to get into power but used these lectures and took a train, first class train and all the black church were under the streets intimidating the king into inviting him. Mussolini is important because he was the democratic Prime Minister for three years, eroding democracy from within. When he thought he was going to lose power, he declared a dictatorship. If trt had his black shirts threatening but he already had these lectures threatening violence. We have the military coups. We know that trump was investigating using the regular armed forces before general milley put a stop to that. So he went with these extremists. But the other thing, as we see are t only extremists of people inside our institutions. The other thing he is left for the gop is a roadmap on how to and treatfy elections your political opponent as a political enemy. The gop was already drifting toward being in authoritarian party when trump came along. He has legitimized lawlessness. In a sense, the whole event leading up to, including the quotes you mentioned, trial by combat, they dispel this kind of macho lawlessness that is the essence of authoritarian rule and always has been. Country tourn as a reckon with this. Amy i want to go to a message theed on twitter sunday by terminator actor and former republican governor of california Arnold Schwarzenegger in which he compares last weeks protrump mob at the capitol to kristallnacht when german nazis launched a wave of violent antijewish pogroms. Aggregate in austria and very thee of kristallnacht, night of broken glass. It was a night of rampage against the jews carried out in 1938 thais the nazi equivalent of the proud boys. Brokenay was a day of glass youre in the United States. The broken glass was in the united needs United States capitol. Amy if you can give us the background of this and then we will play more of Arnold Schwarzenegger, partly for the first time in public, talking about the his father and neighbors in austria at this time. Ruth benghiat, give us the history of kristallnacht and stria. Kristallnacht was tragically important because there had already been legal persecution of imprisonments and beating on the streets. Plenty of violence in germany. Then austria had a plebiscite. Kristallnacht was the first largescale coordinated attack on jewish sites, whether they were stores, synagogues. Allowed the violence to happen but actually instigated it. This technique of lighting the and not addressing violence and egging on violence and then letting it roll is a classic authoritarian maneuver. Of course, part of the effect jews to get out and immigrate, which is partly what the nazis wanted. They wanted to get rid of them that way as well as with violence. Amy professor benghiat, i would to go back to Arnold Schwarzenegger now. Because that is what i want to do. Amy we want to play a little more of what he had to say. Amy that is the former republican governor of california Arnold Schwarzenegger. If youor ruth benghiat, could talk about what he is referring to everyday austrians. And then take it back to the United States as increasingly people around this country are asking questions about the senators and congressmembers who ha aided and a bed with donald trump was trying to do, delegitimize democratic elections. People like cori bush calling for the expulsion of the new congressmember from missouri, of Congress Members who supported this. But start back in austria with the nazis. What Arnold Schwarzenegger is itler was theis h native child, having been born in austria, he was supposed to be savior of germany and dead led it to defeat. I have quotes in my book about women in bomb shelters when hitler abandoned his people and she said, hitler promised greatness and he was really out to destroy us. Tragedys this massive and guilt that was experienced and caused violence, domestic violence. This is this kind of terrible whosphere posthitler killed himself for it. I have this in my book, the one constant with these men as they despised their people and blamed their people when things go badly, and leave them in the ditch. Their only loyalty is to themselves. Americans have seen this as trump is turning on the people that enabled him under the beginning, like jeff sessions, the first person to bring to a rally and trump said, oh, i am being mainstream now. And we know what happened to jeff sessions. Trump has had an enormous success in domesticating and making as a personal tool the gop, considering he did not start his party like mussolini partyler was head of the early on. Trump came in from the outside and only fouyears through intimidation, bullying, buyouts, autocratic methods, has wrapped the gop around his finger. This is how we get this complicity. Those who had to wait for an armed assault with murderous intentions on the capitolo do the right thing like mcconne and nce, i am not so impressed. They were only reacting to the personal safety being jeopardized. Legacy reckoning with the trump era has to focus on how successful he has been at getting people to be the worst selves. Amy finally, professor benghiat, you tweeted historian of coups and rightwing authoritarian here. If there are not severe consequences for every lawmaker and trump Government Official who back this, every member of the Capitol Police who collaborated with them, this strategy of disruption will escalate in 2021. If you would elaborate further and and by talking about what is deeply concerning to so many people right now that this was just a first attack . When trump says our journey is just beginning, i had already been very worried this would be that trump and the gop trouble act as an outside agitator when he leaves and this would be a strategy of trying to delegitimize the vita administration. They have already tried to attack it. Difficulte america so to govern, so chaotic, so violent under biden and hears that it creates more desire for trumpd order and in comes proxies. I am worried there is armed march being planned for january 17 around the nation. Once you legitimize and get a president ial premature to extremism and you plant people throughout the federal agency, you know, radicalize Law Enforcement as bill barr who stepped away but has a huge amount of responsibility for this, it is very hard to turn this back. , thank youenghiat for being with us, professor of history and italian studies at new york university. Author of the book strongmen how they rise, why they succeed, how they fall. We will link to her new piece at cnn titled trumps end game . Power at all costs. Next up, we look at big tech response to the capital insurrection. Twitter has criminally banned permanently and donald trump parler is offline. We will host a debate. [music break] amy summer is coming. Died after battling covid19 last week. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman. After years of debate, twitter and facebook have removed President Trump from their platforms. Today well host our own debate the moves by big tech. Twitter permanently suspended trump friday cutting off his instant line of communication with 89 million followers after reviewing two tweets it said could incite violence and contribute to a possible secondary attack on the u. S. Capitol and other government facilities next weekend, ahead of joe bidens inauguration on wednesday. Trumps tweets were the 75,000,000 Great American patriots who voted for me, america first, and make America Great again, will have a giant voice long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form and trump also tweeted that he will not be going to the inauguration on january 20. Meanwhile, facebook and instagram, which are the same company, have now suspended trump at least until Inauguration Day. Twitch, which is owned by amazon, and snapchat also disabled trumps accounts. Other platforms that have now banned or restricted trump include tiktok, reddit, snapchat, and shopify. Meanwhile, apple, google, and Amazon Web Services ended their support for the social Media Network parler over the weekend, which bills itself as twitter without rules. The Companies Say parlers managers have consistently failed to halt threats of violence and calls for armed insurrection on the site. Parler was cofounded by the republican mega donor, trump supporter rebekah mercer, daughter of Hedge Fund Billionaire Robert Mercer. All this comes as critics argue facebook, google, and twitter have peddled extremism for profit for years. Now the Payment Processing Company Stripe has cut ties with the Trump Campaign, which continues to fundraise, saying it violated policies against encouraging violence after the protrump mob stormed the capitol last wednesday. For more on big techs response to the capital insurrection, we began with Ramesh Srinivasan, professor of information studies at the university of california los angeles, ucla, where he also directs the digital cultures lab. Professor srinivasan is the author of the book beyond the valley how innovators around the world are overcoming inequality and creating the technologies of tomorrow. After we speak with him, we will host a debate with professor Ramesh Srinivasan and chris hedges. A lot of people may not be friendlier with some of these sites. But if you can talk about what has happened in the last week with big tech . Absolutely. Great to be back with you. I think it is important to note as we sift through the pandemic, we are more technologicallyreliant than ever before. Our lives are mediated by private corporations. Big Tech Companies have had to take a stand and a recent days about their relationships, which quite frankly, are highly symbiotic with President Trump. This is something we have discussed before because Many Technology Companies Drive around the amplification of spectacle. Meaning, their goal, like pretty much any Media Network, is to keep you on there as much as possible, to keep your attention. Theres no one better at disorienting, polarizing, inflaming, stirring people up then President Trump. They have been strange bedfellows. In many cases, on an atomic level, allies. There wereedly, decisions made after the horrific events last week where there were clear linkages between President Trumps behavior both online and offline and the domestic white supremacist. Incident we saw last week. I think these companies have realized they need to cut base at some point. In my opinion, they have never taken a stand in the public interest. For us to praise them at this point is not really getting at the whole picture. Amy before we go to our debate, explain what parler is. Parler, imported of the connection between parler and Cambridge Analytic of. Mercer is one of the founders of parler. Her and her father Robert Mercer with the founders along with steve bannon, intimately involved, with Cambridge Analytica. Parler was set up rhetorically almost and has boomed as a sort of alternative social media platform for the conservative and altright and unfortunate, even more rightwing neonazi was from assist type movement. Against techd over the last several months and has falsely claimed it is responsible for his election loss and the losses for republicans in the past. Narler was set up as a alternative for people on the right to flock to. Translate across Different Technology platforms i what i call a media ecology. Stuff might start on parler come just like it started on reddit or other kinds of platforms, but then it becomes a new normal on platforms that are much more mainstream like facebook, instagram, and twitter. Amy to debate big techs response to the capital insurrection and whether social media should be banning President Trump for life or until he is out of office, were joined by chris hedges, kilis or prize winning journalist, awardwinning author, and activist. He is a regular columnist for scheer post. His latest article is headlined, the empire is not done with Julian Assange. He has written numerous books, including most recently, america the farewell tour. Still with us, Ramesh Srinivasan , professor of information studies at the university of california los angeles, or ucla, where he also directs the digital cultures lab. Chris, can you respond to twitter permanently banning donald trump . Well, twitter, all of these digital platforms, are not neutral arbiters. They are forpfit corporations with close ties to the security state. If you look at cover the past few years, they have imposed heavy forms of censorship and interference, primarily on the left, and in particularly on wikileaks. They blocked the ability for wikileaks to accept donations, paypal, and other platforms. Every time wikileaks would hold a press conference, there would be interference, electronic interference. People could not get in a room. They used algorithms. Y luck the New York Post out of its own twitter account because it had published stories about the revelations found on the discarded or abated laptop from hunter biden in retrospect, have proven quite serious. When greenwald took a hit rogue states on this and the intercept would not publish his story. To allow these opaque remember, these companies dont everything about us. We know nothing about them. To allow these companies to essentially function as de facto platforms for censorship and manipulation i am not minimizing what happened last week harkens back to the way Civil Liberties were eviscerated in the wake of 9 11, the patriot act, which the great civil rights attorney Michael Ratner called a coup detat could 2002 authorization to use military force act. So responding to a crisis and i think we live in a crisis. I have written about this rightwing nativist fascist. My book and there can fascist me out in 2006. I am aware of the real threat we face. To respond innocence empowering these private corporations to function as sensors over billions of people will come back to haunt us and we see that because it is not just trump they target. It is in the end the left that pays for this kind of censorship. Amy professor Ramesh Srinivasan , if you can respond . Lets point out twitters move did not start with the leadership. It started with 300 twitter employees sign the petition calling for trump to be permanently banned, saying we must examine twitters complicity in what president like biden has rightly turned insurrection. Those asked jeopardize the wellbeing of the United States. Our company and our employees. That itself is a great example of how publicly unaccountable a country like twitter is. That is true across the board when it comes to big Tech Companies. Big Tech Companies have become private corporations that we are talking about some of the wealthiest corporations in the history of the world. During the pandemic alone, hundreds of millions of dollars have been made primarily by tech magnets. That is only going to be the new normal as we head toward, crises, future pandemics, so on. I agree with the point that was made by mr. Hedges. Twitter is selfserving. These big Tech Companies are selfserving. There are many rightwing trolls who are going viral as we speak on twitter right now. All of these technology platforms, powered by their hidden algorithms that are thrive on the amplification of colorization, the amplification of attention. They are able to predict what will grant our eyeballs. The disorienting propagandist, hateful kinds of content that comes out a President Trump on an incrediblehim ally. That is why it is important for us to take note of the much larger issue, which is our public lives khmer economic lives, political lives, even in summit lives our intimate lives are governed by private Technology Companies that know far more about us that we will ever know about them. That is why believe we need to companies. Echnology amy what about chris hedges concern that, yes, theyre turning on trump right now, they have enormous the property from over the years, but next it may well be you . Absolutely. There is no public governance. There is no public accountability. It could be any of us, amy. It was with wikileaks, as chris hedges pointed out. Incredible how much power we have given to a very small number of people who are essentially mediating every aspect of our lives. I really believe this is why we need true regulatory intervention at this time. We are at a unique moment en it comes to these issues. We have a largescale agreement across the america population. In many cases come around the world. To do something about these issues with big tech. Amy chris hedges, not all speech in this country is, disabilities, simply allowed. Youre not supposed to be able a crowdedire in theater, for example. You have been pointing out for years american fascism. How does President Trump, the support of this insurrection, not fall into that category for you . Because he does not specifically call for violence. The attempt onto the state of mississippi after the naacp for violence that had been carried out. Trying to blame the naacp for this violence and went all the way up to the Supreme Court in 1982. They ruled essentially a unanimous decision that this kind of speech, the kind of speech that trump laid out, is actually protected. Even if it results in violence, they cant go after the person who carried out that speech. Thative a strong case that if you get a strong speech against segregation and there is some kind of violence carried out, youre not responsible. So i think i would love to see trump impeached. Ralph nader and bruce fein have drawn up a list of 12 real impeachable offenses, not just a shakedown ukraine, but of course, i did the Democratic Party has been complicit in this administration. They could have impeached trump the first week, jumped on the emoluments clause alone. Perpetuation of nine wars, if you count yemen, that were never declared by congress. But they did not do it because they saw trump as a fundraising tool. The media has made tons of money off of trump. As was pointed out, the digital platforms love trump as essentially keeping people on their platforms. Again, profitdriven. And now we have ended up in the final week of the Trump Administration with people attempting to respond to the deterioration of the american political system and the judiciary and the checks and balances and everything else. Think, clearly, if we coldly read what trump said to his supporters, he called for people he did not call for people to break into the capitol and take people hostage. Amy certainly he and his family in the speeches alone at this rally come as he talked about he was with them but then of course he sneaked back to the white house and was not with them, but they talked about trial by combat. They talked about getting republicans who were not standing up for trump. In you see all of the responses as he watched what took place the massive violence at the capitol, trump tweeted we love you, or special people. Ramesh srinivasan, what do you want to see as you support trump being banned permanently from twitter, to come from this . What do you see happening . Strike has said they wont process his credit cards. Uses, moneyy, which matters, to say the least, to trump. And you have read it, snapchat, youtube all of these taking trump down. Absolutely. I dont think that the solution this issue and any future issues comes from hoping that twitter does the right thing. Toban trumpecided and the other tech, hes are cutting base with trump because it has gone a step too far in the all recognize the biden administrations incoming. I think what we need to do is long before we get to this point, have public audits, public accountability into Technology Companies. This is what ive been calling a digital bill of rights. Basically, i am talking about we need to have full disclosure over what is being collected of us, how that is being influencing what we see, have the ability for third parties to have bought its continuous audit over the technology platforms. We need to rein in some aspects, not fully of section 230 of the 1996 communication decency act, which basically provides online content providers no liability, just for protection to post and publish whatever they wish to. For long before we get to this point, any pieces of content, for example, theyre likely to go viral or the Tech Companies are going to make go viral, should there should be some kind of audit process. These algorithms are thriving thats how are these the systems driving, that power the systems. They need to be rated and transformed to the interest in the public interest, democratic interest, but also to my point earlier, Technology Companies are not simply about our political lessons into the world but also deeply influencing issues of Economic Justice and social justice. We have to ensure because the internet be publicly funded, these Tech Companies are resting upon this, based on all of us paying for, that they are publicly accountable. They have to be dedicated to the public interest. We have to do everything we can come especially at this time when there is a lot of attention on this issue, to push something that is far more progressive than just hoping for some good steps to be taken here and there. Amy before we go, chris hedges, the judge ruling over Julian Assanges extradition case has just denied him bail. The decision came two days after the judge rejected a u. S. Bid for his extradition. The wikileaks founder must stay in prison while the u. S. Appeals the decision. Your latest article is headlined the empire is not done with Julian Assange. We just have a minute. Talk about the significance of what has taken in britain right now, the judge ruling he will not be extradited to the United States. Risks,use of health because he felt he could commit suicide that potential, and the barbarity of the prison system. But on every other charge, she agreed with the u. S. Prosecutors. That is ominous because in essence, she legitimized legally the right of the American Government to seize anyone Julian Assange is not a u. S. Citizen who publishes u. S. Secrets and periodic extraordinary rendition to haul it back to the United States. It is clear theyre going to let him sit in this high security prison. Remember, he is being held on a bond issue, bail issue. He should have been out a long time ago. He is physically and psychologically in a very precarious state. I think there are a lot of people who feel they are just going to keep them locked out because once and month until he disintegrates. Amy chris hedges, what you want to see right now . What is that . Amy what you want to see right now for Julian Assange. , probably thenge most important publisher of the last few decades. He represents everything that i care about in terms of shining a lens to the inner workings of power. And exposing the kinds of crimes of power. Cccccc .  . ;hat semi people andrew cuomo the president said this is a war. I agree with that, this is a war. Then lets act that way and lets act that way now. Karishma vyas as new york rose from the ashes of 9 11, First Responders became americas heroes. Now theyre under attack again, this time from a hidden enemy. Male yo, mike, close the truck, close the truck. Karishma new york is a key battleground in the global war on covid19. Megan pfeiffer theres been a lot of deceased people, a lotta people just waiting to die. Karishma over two weeks, well take you to the frontlines