Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20160510

Amy as Hillary Clinton looks to a november showdown against donald trump, Bernie Sanders vows to keep fighting for the democratic nomination. Will sanders win today in West Virginia . We will speak to former president ial candidate ralph nader on the democratic race, obstacles facing Third Party Candidates, breaking through power and the rise of trump. , he gets away with absurdities. Yes community that with tank any other political candidate because he is so outrageous in the press thinks he is outrageous, so they give him a pass. It is amazing. Amy all of that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The Justice Department has sued North Carolina over its antitransgender law. The law bars transgender people from using the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity. It also invalidates local ordinances aimed at protecting lgbt people from discrimination. Attorney general Loretta Lynch announced the lawsuit monday, saying the government stands with transgender people. This law provide no benefits to society. And all it does is harm innocent americans. Instead of turning away from our neighbors, our friends, and our colleagues, let us instead learn from our history and avoid repeating the mistakes of our past. And let us reflect on the obvious but often neglected lesson that states ancient discrimination Never Looks Good and never works in hindsight. Amy North Carolina officials , meanwhile, have sued the federal government in order to defend the antitransgender law. North Carolina Governor Pat Mccrory criticized the justice the obama administrations involvement. Our state legislature believes this was an unnecessary government overreach into the private sector, imposing regulations and impacting ones personal privacy. The state legislature and this governor also believe the guidelines then need to be put in place because of this new public topic for government buildings, our schools, and our rest stops to ensure privacy and expectation privacy for everyone. Amy the American Civil Liberties union has also filed suit over the North Carolina law. Staff attorney chase strangio said the law will be struck will ultimately be defeated. It will either be struck down in the court or repealed by the legislature once they realize that doubling down in this way is not politically wise are financially viable for their state. It is just a matter of how long that will take and how much taxpayer dollars to North Carolina governor is willing to spend in the meantime the screaming defending their discrimination. Amy just hours after North Carolina sued the obama administration, lawmakers in california advanced a bill that would require all singlestall Public Restrooms to be genderneutral. Donald trump has moved to take over the financial apparatus of the Republican National committee, despite tensions within the party over his role as the presumptive president ial nominee. Trump has said he needs up to 1. 5 billion for the general Election Campaign after pouring 40 million of his own money into the primaries. Trump lacks fundraising infrastructure and republican megadonors like the Koch Brothers have so far hedged at backing him. On monday, House Speaker paul ryan said he would step down as chair of the Republican National convention if trump asked him to. While trump has all but sealed the nomination, voters still head to the polls today for republican primaries in West Virginia and nebraska. West virginia is also holding its democratic primary, with vermont senator Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton for the 29 delegates up for grabs. Eight years ago, Hillary Clinton won West Virginia in a landslide, beating barack obama. The many polls project sanders will win today. More on was virginia with former president ial candidate ralph nader after headlines. Secretary of state john kerry says the United States and russia have agreed to press for the reinstatement of a nationwide ceasefire in syria. Kerry addressed reporters. As i said before when we were in vienna, these are words on a piece of paper. They are not actions. But they are a commitment by russia to in fact limit the Syrian Regime from its ability to fly in civilian occupation areas occupied areas as well as to work with commanders on the ground in order to try to deliver stability. And a reaffirmation of the cessation of hostilities. Amy the Syrian Military , meanwhile, said it would extend for two days a ceasefire confined to the embattled city of aleppo and its surrounding areas. Violence has continued despite the truce. The pentagon says an airstrike by the u. S. Led coalition has killed a senior isis official in iraq. Officials said the strike on friday killed abu wahib, identified as isis chief military official in anbar province. It hit a vehicle carrying wahib and three other people officials three other people described as isis members. Pentagon spokesperson peter cook said it is dangerous to be an isil leader in iraq and syria these days, and for good reason. Brazils senate has forged ahead with impeachment proceedings against president Dilma Rousseff, despite an earlier move by the interim House Speaker to derail the process. The previous House Speaker, eduardo cunha, had led the bid to oust rousseff, before he himself was ousted over corruption. On monday his replacement, waldir maranhao, sought to annul the lower houses vote in favor of impeachment charges, citing procedural flaws. A i am aware that this is delicate moment. We of a duty to save democracy through debate. We are not and will not be playing with democracy. Amy but the brazilian speaker apparently reversed course in the middle of the night, releasing a statement reversing his decision without explanation. The senate appears poised to vote wednesday on whether to put rousseff on trial. If a majority side against her, she would be suspended. President rousseff has been accused of tampering with government accounts to conceal budget shortfalls. She has accused her rightwing opponents of mounting a coup. In the philippines, Rodrigo Duterte has declared victory in the president ial election and vowed to rewrite the constitution. Duterte won the election despite periodically admitting to his role in death squads joking , about the gangrape of an australian missionary and , pledging to kill tens of thousands of people. Hes been dumped the filipino trump. Meanwhile, the philippines has also elected its first openly transgender politician. Geraldine roman will serve in the house of representatives. Canada has announced it will be backing a United Nations declaration to protect the rights of the worlds more than 370 million indigenous peoples. Four countries opposed the declaration when it was first adopted by the u. N. General assembly in 2007 australia, new zealand, canada and the United States. Canada is the last of the four to finally embrace the statement. The United States signed on in 2010. Ferguson, missouri, has sworn in its First Permanent africanamerican police chief. Delrish moss takes over for tom jackson, who resigned after a scathing Justice Department report found police and courts in ferguson routinely engaged in discrimination against African Americans. The bias came to light after the Fatal Police Shooting of unarmed African American Michael Brown in 2014. The socalled Panama Papers scandal has widened as an International Team of journalists published a searchable database of documents online. A massive data leak revealed how the Panamabased Mossack Fonseca law firm set up a Global Network of Shell Companies for heads of state and other elites to store money offshore to avoid taxes and oversight. The International Consortium of investigative journalists says the database strips away the secrecy of nearly 214,000 offshore entities in 21 jurisdictions, from nevada to hong kong and the British Virgin islands. A mexican judge has ruled drug lord Joaquin El Chapo guzman can be extradited to the United States to face trial. Guzman has been moved to a prison on the u. S. Mexico border. He previously escaped from jail in mexico twice. His attorneys had fought his extradition in part by citing discrimination against mexicans, including the words of nowpresumptive republican president ial nominee donald trump. One in five species of plants worldwide are at risk of extinction amid threats from farming, logging, urbanization , and humanmade climate change. The global study led by the Royal Botanic Gardens in london is the first of its kind. Researcher Steve Stockman described the findings. If we completely clear the land and have a monoculture, what happens when a new plant disease emerges and wipes out the crop entirely . Having a more diverse and flexible approach to reducing our crops means were more likely to be robust for the challenge in the future, especially as the climate changes, more diseases, more insects start to infest the crops. That stuff is likely to happen. Amy in another sign of the impact of climate change, at least five tiny Pacific Islands have disappeared due to erosion and rising sea levels. They are part of the solomon islands. The social media site facebook has been accused of suppressing news stories on political grounds. Former facebook workers told the website gizmodo they routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers by keeping them out of the trending stories section on the sidebar. Among the topics they purportedly suppressed were those about the rightwing cpac gathering, mitt romney, and rand paul. They were also told exclude news about facebook itself Gizmodo Technology editor Michael Nunez wrote in other words, facebooks news section operates like a traditional newsroom reflecting the biases of its workers and the institutional imperatives of the corporation. Facebook has denied the allegations it filtered out conservative stories. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Were on the road today in minneapolis, minnesota, headed to cambridge, massachusetts. Polls have opened in West Virginia, where vermont senator Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are vying for the 29 delegates up for grabs. Eight years ago, Hillary Clinton won West Virginia in a landslide beating Barack Obamay 40 , percentage points. But many polls project sanders will win today. Clinton has faced widespread criticism in West Virginia after she recently said were going , to put a lot of coal miners and Coal Companies out of business. While clinton maintains a lead in both pledged and super delegates sanders is vowing to , continue his fight to the democratic National Convention in july. There are nine more primaries and caucuses remaining, tomorrow what in West Virginia. We hope to win there. On june 7, there is the big day because it is new jersey and california. [cheers] and if we can win here in new jersey and went in california and win some of the other states, and if we can win a majority of the pledged delegates, we are going to go into philadelphia and the Democratic Convention [cheers] expect to come out of the democratic nomination. [cheers] this let anybody tell you campaign is over. Were going to fight for the last vote we can find in new jersey and california. Amy over the weekend, Hillary Sanders urged Bernie Sanders to help unify the Democratic Party. She spoke on cbs. 3 million votes ahead of senator sanders, nearly 300 pledged delegates ahead of him. He has to make his own mind up, but i was very heartened to hear him say last week that he is going to work seven days a week to make sure donald trump does not becomeresident. I want to unify the party. I see a great role in opportunity for him and his supporters to be part of that unified party, to move into not just november to win the election against donald trump, but to then govern based on the progressive goals that he and i share. Amy for more were joined by former president ial candidate and longtime consumer advocate ralph nader. His recent piece for the Huffington Post is headlined, the need for progressive voices. His forthcoming book breaking , through power its easier than we think. Welcome back to democracy now talk about the state of the president ial race today. The states corporatist and militarist Hillary Clinton is making a premature boast a victory. The only reason she is ahead is because her to antidemocratic systems. One, the unelected superdelegates, her cronies mostly in congress who are elected by nobody to be delegates. They were appointed. And second, the closed primaries. Primaries are paid by taxpayers. They should not be closed to independent voters. If the independent voters could have voted in these primaries, Bernie Sanders would have defeated Hillary Clinton. In fact, in one tuesday a couple of weeks ago, he lost four primaries in pennsylvania, delaware, connecticut because of closed primaries. The one that was open, and independent voters in rhode island, he won. So i would not be as boastful as Hillary Clinton. She has to divulge her transcripts. The wall street journal just reported she is getting more money from wall street than all other candidates combined and republicandemocratic Party Running for president. And that is one reason why she has to to hold those transcripts, which she had her sponsors, the big bankers others by 1000 each first and i prefer to write to have these stenographic transcripts. So she has got them and she has to double to them so the American People can see how she says one thing and close doors to the business lobbyists and another thing, sweet talking the public and members being just mimicking the language of Bernie Sanders. Amy i want to turn to the press secretary speaking on cnn in april. One week ago today in this very chair, sitting there talking to you, and you asked him, why did senator sanders decider of the Democratic Party . Pancetta vines that for some reason, he did not want to be a ralph nader, did not want to be a spoiler. If you did not win the democratic nominations, he did not want to spoil the chances to reach therats white house. Im afraid that is what he will be doing. This has been an extraordinary effort that the Sanders Campaign has embarked upon and brought so many people under the process but yesterday the tone of the attacks was suggesting that the Democratic Party does not see fit to nominate Bernie Sanders, then it is not a party worth supporting. That is poisonous rhetoric. Amy so that was Hillary Clinton press secretary brian fallon. Your response, ralph nader . The twoparty tyranny is so exclusionary of Ballot Access barriers, keeping independent candidates from being on the debates and on and on. Here we go again. That the hillary cowdrey is getting ready basically to say, drop out, dropout Bernie Sanders. I dont think anyone should be told to drop out. Theyre exercising their First Amendment rights of speech, petition, simply. You want to oppose them, fine. But to tell them to drop out is to tell them to shut up and give up their rights. I wrote in 2008 a letter to henry clinton, urging her not to drop that when the obama forces in june of that year were telling her to drop out. So i think that is a very antidemocratic and very presumptuous, especially since the only reason Hillary Clinton is ahead now in delegates is because of closed democratic primaries and the superdelegates who are her cronies, as i mentioned, mostly in congress. Amy explained that, ralph. I think people for the first time in 2016 maybe waking up to all of these roles and they may seem obvious, especially to you, president ial candidate, but even the term closed president ial primary. Explained and a nice article by my former campaign manager. What happens is, the first an independent candidate has to surmount 50 state Ballot Access laws, some of them are so satirean as to define like in North Carolina, texas, and california. The second thing they have to do is ward off all kinds of frivolous lawsuits, for example, but the Democratic Party. They confronted us with 24 lawsuits in 12 weeks in 2004 in various states to get us off the ballot, train our resources, distract our focus. We won most of them. Of thea typical example workings of the two party tyranny. These primaries, whether democrat or state primaries, amy, are paid by the taxpayers. And many states have open primaries. They say, anybody can crossover and vote in any primary. I think that is proper. If the parties want to pay for their own primaries with their own private money, that is one thing. It you dont have taxpayer supported official primaries that become the private preserve of closed primaries, democrat or republican. Amy last month, Bernie Sanders appeared on this week with george stephanopoulos. Of the contest doesnt go the way you hope, will you be able to follow the clinton model of 2008 and make an enthusiastic case for her the way she pushed for president obama . Well, that is totally dependent on what the clinton platform is and how she responds to the needs of millions of americans who are sick and tired of establishment politics and establishment economics. I cannot snap my finger and tell people what to do. But what i will do is do everything i can do make sure that somebody like a donald trump or some other right wing republican does not become president of the United States. We do not need more tax breaks for millionaires, work has to Social Security and medicare, more ignoring the fact the public ends do not even accept republicans do not even accept climate change, let alone do something about it. I will do everything i can to defeat any republican candidate. Clinton is going to have to make the case to the American People, to all americans, that she is prepared to stand up to the billionaire class. That she is prepared to fight for health care for all americans, that she is prepared to pass paid family and medical leave i make sure that college is affordable for the young people in this country. That is what she has got to do. I hope if she is the nominee, that she does that. Amy that was Bernie Sanders speaking on abc. Ralph nader . That is what he should say, but he should go further. Like, she is not when the support wall street slick election text, medicare for all, much more life savings. She is not going to support his tax proposals. She is certainly not going to support a 15 minimum wage. She is at 12. She is not going to support having diplomacy start with waging peace instead of waging war. She is a certified hawk. I never saw a weapons or a war she did not like. Bernie sanderss got to come if he does not make the nomination, he has got to lead a civic mobilization that could be directed against trump, but directed against all politicians based on his broader agenda. And i suggest he have a huge mall rally in washington, sometime in the early fall, and then break it down to regional rallies all over the country in order number one, not to disappoint and dissolution millions of his followers. And second, to make a declaration that elections in our country should not be offlimits to democracy or democracy Civil Society. Because when they are, elections become, as they happen, very vulnerable to commercialism, to politicians selling themselves, to super pacs, and the mass media making a bundle of money on outrageously outspoken candidates like donald trumpho get ratings for fox and cnn and others. And they have turned it into a profit center. So it is like an industry separated from the democratic society. To give you an example, amy, of what happens when we allow this to occur, we are assembling the largest gathering of citizen advocacy groups over the largest number of reforms and redirection in our country ever brought together in american history. 23, 24th,s on may 25th, and 26, of this year a constitutional hall and washington, d. C. , and it will be streamed dollar for country, these are many people who appeared on democracy now it is a must like an alumni reunion, amy. These are the people who make america great. These are the people who advance health, safety, economic wellbeing, democratic procedures, push for cleaner labor and mobilize small taxpayers and try to rebuild public works and have a Better Health care system and a better set of voices. And they are completely excluded. They are excluded from the election coverage. They are excluded from the candidates, except for Bernie Sanders. Here are some quick examples. Recently, there was a gathering in washington for the press on solitary confinement by the leading specialist in the area, jim rajoy, and several people who are over charlie and cruelly dashed a return early and cruelly confined in a solitary cell. No press whatsoever. About the same time George Washington university had a major symposium on tax havens, tax escapes of corporations and places like the grand cayman island. No press whatsoever. Democracyhese awakening and democracy spring in washington d c. The Washington Post completely declined to cover it. Democracy now and npr covered it. They were trying to push into the electoral process issues Like Campaign finance reform. Commissioner, very progressive man, has been trying to get the mass media to Pay Attention to section 317 of the 1934 communications law. What does that say . It requires without exception the disclosure of all donor names to these pacs and super pacs. The fcc has been sitting on a common cause petition and other previous petitions and doing nothing. It gets no coverage by the mass media that is focusing on an everincreasing trivial president ial race, avoiding major issues, avoiding the great issues of the distribution of power and wealth and income in our societys impact abroad, continuing to do that and not allowing the Civil Society to break in. That is why we call our gathering at Constitution Hall breaking through power. To get tickets, you can get tickets by going to brea kingthroughpower. Org. We want to fill that great hall and make a progressive demonstration. It is a lot easier than you think to make change. We have 18 groups on day one to demonstrate that. And the second is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. No one has ever brought these groups together. The third is a surprise. A lot of these issues are supported by leftright. Conservatives like to have their children breathe clean air and drink clean water and eat safe foods and have safe medicines. And have a voice and have a decent education. And when they grow up, to have a living wage. 75 to 80 of the people supported higher minimum wage. I hope people will really come together on this and washington, d. C. , may 20 3, 24, 25, 26. We have to move to civic mobilization because that is the root, amy, of the quality of elections at we are given. And if we dont become active and engaged, cynically, outside the election process, we get the terrible politics that we are seeing today. Amy ralph, we have to go to break that we are going to come back. I want to ask about the West Virginia primary, about the possibility of a Third Party Candidate both on the republican side, democratic side, what would happen if Bernie Sanders did not clinch the nomination, what do you think you should do. Were talking to ralph nader, longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic and former , president ial candidate. We urge you tuesday with us as we continue to discuss the 2016 president ial race and the state of america today. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Is ralph nader, consumer advocate, former president ial candidate. Ralph, i want to ask about the media and the rise of donald trump. This is cbs Ceo Les Moonves speaking at a morgan stanleyhosted conference in San Francisco earlier this year. Who would have thought the circus would come to town, but, you know, it may not be good for america, but it is damn good for cbs. Thats all ive got to say. What can i say . You know, the money is rolling in and this the polls are open. Ive never seen anything like this. This is one to be a very good year for us. [laughter] sorry. It is a terrible thing to say, but bring it on, donald. Keep going. Any code that was lesson invests s, the ceo of cbs. Ralph nader . Theres a perfect monetized mind of the commercial media using public airwaves, our property, to cash in and give the candidates a free ride. By a free ride, i mean the questions are not particularly pointed when they interview them and they are very repetitious, and they give these candidates like trump and others front stage. But also, they exclude leading citizens who could criticize the process, the candidates, and aurish the content of president ial Election Campaign. And that is what these networks do. He says, what can i say . Heres what you can say, lester, he can say, yeah, youre making a lot of money for cbs and or bonuses, but youre also undermining democracy. There has to be commercially democracy. Nes for there has to be sanctuaries that are not commercialized and some things in our country that are not for sale. An election should not be for sale and should not be driven by mass media profit. I mean, it is Pretty Amazing how insensitive a ceo can be about what your viewers just saw. Lester. Amy what kind of questions do you think should be put to donald trump . For example, people talk about this country has to get right financially, right the ship, he can do it, hes is a billionaire businessman. How many times as donald trump gone bankrupt . I mean, the one project alone, Atlantic City casino, was it three or four times . He is had four major bankruptcies of his companies. He refuses to double his huge refuses to divulge. And if we had his tax returns, we could see how little taxi really pay. He has almost admitted that. Second, whether he really does give to philanthropy like he says he does,. Third, what his entitlements are and his shady business dealings. Of course, that kind of detailed tax returns would lead to other lines of inquiry by the media. Regularly onks meet the press, and he keeps putting him off, but the way to do with donald trump is to throw him on the defensive. Because he talks in terms of delightful conclusions. He is going to get jobs. He is going to do this or that like a Father Authority figure, but he never says how he is going to do it. He implies he is been elected to a one branch government. The white house. As of congress is not have a role in whether he is when the build is 25 billion wall at the Mexican Border were doesnt have a role whether he is one us of a. 5 terror on chinese imports the other thing that is important, i think this should be a nationwide petition immediately where all his wild bigotry against women, hispanics, muslims, people with disabilities, on and on are listed, and then the demand from hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people building day after day, donald trump, regret and recant. Donald trump, regret and recant. He is a master of repetition. You have to feed him that kind of repetitious demand to throw him on the defensive. The bold his tax returns and start this nationwide petition. Donald trump, regret and recant those remarks. And that will change the tone of the trumpcs of campaign, which is always aggressive and always on the attack. Amy ralph, talk about the gnificance of the West Virginia primary. Also, Hillary Clinton on the issue of coal turning around. First of all, i think she was right and what she said. It is about 3 of the workers and 6 of the economy and it is declining. Putting solar panels on was virginia homes is a much safer, cleaner, better way to transition coal miners out of that deadly, dangerous, underground work that has caused the loss of over 400,000 homeowner lives in the last 110 years. About what we lost in soldiers and world war ii. I think she is right. She is trying to wiggle her way out of it now. But West Virginia is an interesting case. It is for people, ridgeland minerals and voting republican for members of congress, voting republican in the president ial race is recently, and i think Bernie Sanders is going to do very well in West Virginia because he cuts through the murkiness that has embroiled West Virginia politics for so long. Donald trump actually just told people in West Virginia, dont bother voting in the republican primary, it is over. Imagine telling someone not to vote and are troubled in primary, especially since he is going to win it the republican side. He is the only one really on the ballot. Amy i also want to ask about the challenges facing thirdparty candidates. Last month, i spoke to former new mexico Governor Terry johnson who ran for president on the libertarian ticket in 2012 who is seeking the libertarian nomination again. President of the United States as a libertarian. There is no way a third party wins. There is no way that i have a chance of winning unless i am in the president ial debates. There is the possibility of being at 15 in the polls, though, if i am in the polls if i coulbe the president ial debate. Amy youre part of a lawsuit going after the president ial Debate Commission . On the basis of the sherman act that politics is a business, that democrats and republicans collude with one another to exclude everybody else. We think the discovery phase of this lawsuit is going to provide National Insight into just how rigged the system is. I come back to the fact that 50 of americans right now declare themselves as independent. Where is that representation . Amy so that is gary johnson, the former governor of new mexico. I was talking to him when i was in our cookie. This is green Party President ial candidate jill stein who appeared on democracy now in an ouster candidacy last year. It is very exciting that i am part of two cases through the green party, one of which is being filed today. The socalled level the field case. Against the commission on president ial debate and the federal Election Commission for overseeing them. Basically for violating federal election law. People think this is a Public Service institution. It is not. It is a private corporation run by the democratic and republican parties. When they began to take control of the debates, which are basically rigged so that only their candidates can be in it, the league of women voters quit, saying this was a fraud being committed on the American Public and they would have no part of it. It is an outrage that fraud has been allowed to continue for decades. Amy so that is green Party President ial candidate jill stein. Talk about the commission, ralph. Talk about who gets to debate. And also, if Bernie Sanders doesnt get the democratic nomination, what you feel you should do. You should have george fair who wrote the only book on the theate corporation misnamed commission on president ial debates to give people the the governmentf agency. It is not. It is a private corporation. A get rid of the League Women Voters who they thought were too uppity and were sponsoring the president ial debates. And no other western democracy are there so many laws that obstruct voters from voting, obstruct thirdparty independent candidates from giving or voices and choices to the voter by getting on the ballot. We are at the bottom of the heap. Norway has several parties. Canada has several parties. Chile has several parties. They get on debates. But there are only two they get on the president ial debate, republican and democrat, because they control the gate. They controlled away again. Had i got on the debates in my president ial run, in one debate i would have reached more people by 50 fold then i reached by filling all of the major arenas, Madison Square garden, target center, etc. , as we did in the year 2000. So it is for a critical. Unless your multibillionaire, you dont have the wherewithal to reach people because youre not going to be covered by the mass mass commercial media basically says, you cant win, never mind they represent majority positions like full medicare for all, like loosening of the electoral process so more people can get. N and run and vote it doesnt matter that you represent majority positions that are taken off the table by the republican and Democratic Party. Undiscoverable, like cracking down on corporate crime. Like changing the Corporate Tax system. Like the militarizing foreign policy. Like Public Works Program that the trillionsaway of dollars from blowing apart countries like iraq and other countries overseas. It doesnt matter. Why we have that is a day called breaking through the media. A day called breaking through congress. We have a day called breaking through war. And the first day is, here is how it is been done. Here is how 18 groups representing so much of the quality of life of america, so successfully over the years, have broken through power. It is a great fourday seminar for anyone who wants to learn to appoint where they want to then get engaged. Please go through breakingthroughpower. Org for tickets or scholarships. Amy you think, ralph nader, that Bernie Sanders should become a thirdparty candidate . It is almost too late. The latest time someone started a thirdparty was late april. I think it mightve been john anderson. It is always too late now. It will be marginalized. He wants be reported on. Why should he be marginalized . Be called that politically bigoted word spoiler as of the political system isnt so spoiled. They have nerve to call someone who is a reformer a spoiler. What he should do, and i put this in my column recently, you can go to nader. Org, is if he has to concede, what he has to do is go after trump not go around the country being a toadie of Hillary Clinton and being given his little slogans to mouth, that is not his character or personality. Yes to then cut out and lead a civic mobilization on all these issues against the political process. Of course it will fall out in a way where it will probably undermine trump more than hillary. That is what i think you should do. And then after the election, he becomes the leader of a National Mobilization that can affect local, state, National Races that can give concrete opportunities for the millions of young people who supported this 74yearold grandfather who wouldve predicted that, right . , thely, and most important structure for potential alternative party will be in its formation right after the election for 2020 when the districts will be redrawn, etc. Mark green is going to give a presentation on Electoral Reform on day four of the Constitution Hall. We call it a civic marathon. Maybe we should call it citizens revolutionary week. We have to build a Civil Society. Youre not when you get any elections were their salt of the national level. Look at congress. Does the commerce represent the necessities and hopes and even the political beliefs of the American People . Those are gerrymandered monetize elections. It is a disgrace to our country that we allow that to happen. I always tell people, if you dont like your government, youre looking in the mirror. Amy ralph, we just have two minutes. Crisis within the Republican Party, i mean, what youre saying, have you ever seen this before in your years avolved with politics with really reform asian of the Republican Party, now that ryan, the House Speaker, saying he will step down as the head of the Republican Convention if trump wants them to. Trump has to raise he says 1. 5 billion so if it turned of the party that has rejected him. Unpredictables ahead. Number one, i think the Republican Party will become the trump dump for a while. It is split in some and he waits. He of the members of the Republican Party worrying about their own political skin. Are they going to get reelected . To theh down the ladder state and local races is this going to occur . Trump is only about trump. Hard to consider him sacrificing his ego to campaign for other people. There will always be an outrage sucking the oxygen out of any Media Coverage of other politicians. On the other hand, trump has some reformist positions. We do have to recast these corporate managed trade agreements, for example. He is leaning toward a higher minimum wage. He has said there should be some tax reforms on wall street. On the other hand, you dont know what he believes or what he says at any given time. The is a each crisis for Republican Party. And once again, the luck of the clintons. Amy and for the Democratic Party, the significance of what Bernie Sanders has done . Well, what Bernie Sanders has done, hillary can undo and reduce any significance and produce huge disillusionment. Mong Bernie Sanders supporters and they can always stay home. It does not take many people to stay home, as in a Congressional Election of 2010, to develop a landslide for the republicans in congress. And so hillary has to be very careful of that if her accolade start beating up on Bernie Sanders, disrespecting him, telling him to drop out, they may be undermining their own cause in november. On the other hand, knowing that Bernie Sanders agenda as majoritarian support, i bet she is one of start mouthing some of these things in order to beguile the voters. Amy we have to leave it there. I want to thank you for being with us ralph nader, longtime , consumer advocate, corporate critic, and former president ial candidate. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Southe come back, we go to brazil with Glenn Greenwald. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Were on the road in minneapolis, minnesota. We are headed to cambridge, then to new jersey. We turn to brazil where the senate has moved ahead with the impeachment process against president Dilma Rousseff. On monday, the replacement sought to annul the lower houses vote in favor of impeachment charges citing procedural flaws. The senate head insisted a vote in the upper house would move forward. Gnome on a credit decision can superimpose a collective decision, especially when the decision was taken with the highest form of collective net in the house in full plenary and furthermore with verified corm. Amy the brazilian speaker later reversed, sending it in the middle of the night. The Brazilian Senate is scheduled to vote wednesday on whether it will try rousseff for violating budgetary laws. If it decides in favor of doing this, she will immediately be suspended for up to six months as the trial proceeds. Her potential replacement, Vice President michel temer, was ordered last week to pay a fine for violating Campaign Finance limits. On friday, president rousseff vowed to continue fighting. I will stay here fighting, fighting because i am the proof of this injustice. Theyre condemning an innocent person and there is nothing more serious than condemning an innocent person. Amy despite the massive Corruption Scandal, president rousseff herself has not been found guilty of any financial impropriety. The Attorney Generals Office has called for the impeachment charges against rousseff to be dropped, saying there is no legal basis for the proceedings. Well, last week, i spoke to Glenn Greenwald, pulitzer prizewinning journalist, who joined us from rio de janeiro, brazil. I began by asking greenwald to explain whats happening there. Is actually remarkable because it is somebody as summit who grew up in the United States, a democracy that is a couple of centuries old, you do sort of assume once you live in a democracy or the leaders are chosen through the ballot box as opposed to just being imposed through force that it is always going to be that way. You kind of take it for granted. Being here in brazil where majority of the country actually was born into a military dictatorship, one that overthrew the democratically elected government in 1964 then proceeded to impose military rule on the country for the next 21 years, very brutal and oppressive military rule, i am living in a country here that is actually very young and therefore a fragile democracy. Although it has become this inspiring model for the world. It has really thrived under its young democracy. Politicals fiber coulter. It has made extremely impressive strides in terms of letting people out of poverty and giving them opportunity and creating mature democratic institutions. And to sit here and witness the other dismantling of a democracy , which is what is taking place, by the richest and most powerful people in the society, using their media organs that masquerade as journalistic outlets but are in fact propaganda channels for a tiny number of extremely rich families, almost all of whom supported that to in the military dictatorship on is really disturbing and frightening to see. I think the ultimate question now becomes once brazilians have had their attention focused for so long on the president , on Dilma Rousseff, who it is true has become extremely a popular largely due to economic suffering here in the country and a lack of political charisma and lack of political skill on her part. Of until now, everyone has been focused on dilma and getting her out of office. Now the realization is starting to sink in that this is really about, one, installing as president and the controlling faction in brasilia a group of people who believe in very probusiness, neoliberal ideology that want to dismantle poor social programs that have been constructed over the last 20 years, in which on its own could never be accepted by the majority of brazilian voters. Secondly what it is about is, empowering the very people in brasilia who actually are corrupt, who actively have stolen money huge amounts of money and squandered it away in Foreign Bank Accounts and used it to buy second and third and fourth homes in names of other people. Thieves iny corrupt brasilia. It is about empowering them so they can protect themselves and kill the corruption investigation. And once people really start to focus on that as they are doing now, starting to see instability, increasingly violent protests, the real question is going to become, how is the population of this country going to react when they realize that democracy has been taken out of their hands . Amy so is Dilma Rousseff going to make it . I think billy thing they can savor at this point is if brazilian elite realize that there is going to be too high a cost to be paid for removing her and then installing the very corrupt and located neoliberal, nonentity of the Vice President michel temer, which is the current plan. If they come to believe that following through on their plan will cause lots of public instabilityruption, especially as the olympics are approaching, in a way that could damage this plan to retract foreign capital back into brazil , i think theyre going to have second thoughts about it. But short of that, i think theyre dead that on removing her. I think the votes will be there in the senate because you have a combination of the ideological factor of enough members of the rightwing in brazil who hate bt and have long hated bt, combined with a self interest on the part of corrupt evil in the senate and the lower house who believe their removing dust removing dilma is the way to end this Corruption Scandal and the to be able to kill the investigation. So this commendation, this really toxic, nation of ideology and self interest combined with what i cannot emphasize enough is the central role of brazils oligarchical media, inciting and inflaming all of this and not allowing the plurality of the opinion to be heard in this propositionarade of propaganda meant that, nation i think has made her removal inevitable unless the public makes clear they wont tolerate it. Amy and the third in line to be president . He is the person most responsible for the impeachment proceeding taking place in the house. He is the one who made the decision to allow it to happen and then he and one of the most shameless acts ever seen in modern politics actually presided over the impeachment doesedings, even though even as you described him, he understated not just the level of his corruption, but the proof of it. He was actually caught. The investigators found swiss Bank Accounts that he owns and controls with millions of dollars in them, he has no source of wealth beyond corruption and bribery. He is been in public life for a long time. He lied last year when he testified to congressional investigators and said he has no Foreign Bank Accounts in his name and are subsequently discovered. You have government informants who have testified that the amount of kickbacks yes received is in the many, million many, many, millions of dollars. Face is become the kind of of not just hypocrisy, but the defeat at the heart of this impeachment effort in that house proceeding that a lot of people around the world watched. One number of congress after the next who are accused of an implicated by the corruption investigation, stood up to him and said, mr. Speaker, mr. President , i vote yes to impeach Dilma Rousseff because we cannot tolerate corruption. Speaking as someone with millions of dollars in bribes in swiss Bank Accounts. People have started to realize internationally and here in brazil that although this impeachment process has been sold, has been pitched as a way of punishing corruption, its real goal beyond empowering neoliberals and Goldman Sachs and foreign hedge funds, the real goal is to protect corruption. Amy that is realtor prizewinning journalist Glenn Greenwald of the intercept speaking last week in rio de janeiro, brazil. That does it for our show. I will beonight speaking tonight at 6 30 and cameras. Wednesday night in montclair, new jersey. On thursday night, Barnes Noble Union square in new york. Friday i will be in washington, d. C. For the weekend, saturday to portland and bangor, maine. Sunday, maine. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] music playing were here at the patisserie of fleur in las vegas at the restaurant. What im working on here is a vacherin glace. Vacherin glace is really a dessert which is close to my heart because i grew up on it when i was a kid back in alsace. Of course at home we used to have a big vacherin glace for about 1215 people. Here at fleur what im doing is having much more extravagant presentations, but its still the same thing. The composition of a vacherin glace is golden meringue, ice cream in the center, another layer of meringue, whipped cream and almonds, and here you have it. When it comes together, its delicious. On todays show its all about ice cream cakes. I will show you step by step the secrets for making a great french meringue and then how to put together this crowdpleasing dessert. Im also making another fantastic dessert,