Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20141001 : comparemela.

Teaching about civil disobedience students and , teachers respond with acts of civil disobedience of their own. Classes have been canceled twice in Jefferson County as teachers stage mass sick out and students have walked out of classes. Then to Rikers Island prison in new york. The adolescence in rikers are walled off from the public. Theyre not walled off from the constitution. Indeed, most of these young men are pretrial detainees, presumed innocent until proven guilty. We will look at how a 16yearold High School Sophomore from the bronx ended up spending nearly three years locked up at Rikers Island after he was falsely accused of stealing a backpack. Even though he was never convicted, the team spent nearly 800 days that is about two years and solitary confinement. And we will look at how one county in mississippi is being sued for holding prisoners for nearly a year without formal charge or access to an attorney. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The u. S. Led Bombing Campaign in iraq and syria has seen its biggest day so far with british warplanes joining the attack. At least 24 strikes were launched between the two countries, where the Islamic State controls a vast stretch of territory. Britain took part in the strikes for the First Time Since its parliament voted to authorize the campaign on friday. The strikes today have hit towns including syrias ain alarab, which has come under sustained Islamic State assault thats forced tens of thousands of syrian kurds to flee. The white house has confirmed its relaxed standards aimed at preventing civilian deaths for the u. S. Airstrikes in iraq and syria. According to yahoo news, the Obama Administration has acknowledged that a policy announced last year calling for near certainty of no civilian casualties in drone strikes will not apply to the current bombing. The admission came in response to queries about a strike that killed up to a dozen civilians in the syrian village of kafr daryan last week. The bodies of women and children were reportedly pulled from the rubble after a missile hit a home for displaced residents. The United Nations meanwhile has issued a new warning over the dire humanitarian conditions in syria. Briefing the security council, emergency relief coordinator valerie amos said the World Food Programme will be forced to end its operations unless it can obtain additional funding. Millions are short of food, medicine, and ohms 3 million children are not in school. 11 million Vulnerable People inside syria require urgent human a train assistance, and of those, 6. 4 Million People are internally displaced. Without additional funds, the World Food Program will be forced to end its operations completely within two months. Russians have already been cut russians have already been cut in order to reach as many people as possible. Winter is fast approaching and vital supplies are needed to protect people from the cold. The taliban has carried out a suicide bombing onto the buses carrying soldiers in the Afghan Capital of kabul, killing seven people and wounding 21. The attack comes one day after the signing of a u. S. Afghan security pact that will keep 10,000 u. S. Troops in the country after this years formal and to combat operations. Missing ambassador James Cunningham a sign the agreement on tuesday. This agreement will enable United States to help the Security Forces to build on this progress after the Mission Comes to a close. As a new nato mission begins. Our close defense and Security Cooperation will provide the foundation for afghanistan to continue its Impressive Development and to build on the achievements of the past. Our agreement will contribute to stability that only in afghanistan, but throughout the region. And afghan president signed the accord after his predecessor , hamid karzai, refused to ratify it. Tens of thousands remain in the streets of hong kong in the fourth day of mass protest is common for greater political freedom. The demonstrations swelled over the weekend after a crackdown on students opposing chinas plan to select candidates in hong kongs 2017 elections. Protest leaders have vowed to remain and take over government buildings until the resignation of Hong Kong City leader in a free vote for his successor. Todays protest comes as china and hong kong observe national day, which marks the anniversary of chinas founding. Communist chinas founding. A patient who recently returned from liberia has been diagnosed the first case of ebola in the United States. The head of the centers for Disease Control announced the news on monday, one day after the patients admission to a dallas hospital. This individual left liberia on the 19th of september, arrived in the u. S. On the 20th of september, had no symptoms when departing liberia or. Ntering this country four or five days later around the 24th of september, he began to develop symptoms. On the 26th of september, initially sought care. Sunday, the 28th of september, was admitted to a hospital in texas and placed on isolation. We received in our laboratory today specimens from the individual, tested them and they ebola. Positive for the cdc says Family Members and others who made contact with the patient after he fell ill to be placed isolation to prevent wider infection. Passengers who traveled on the same u. S. Bound plane would not be at risk because the virus is only spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of the patient showing symptoms. He saidews conference, he believes this case will be contained. The bottom line here is that i have no doubt that we will control this importation or this case of ebola so it does not spread widely in this country. It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual a Family Member or other individual could develop ebola in the coming weeks, but there is no we will my mind that stop it here. President obama has reportedly approved a plan that would that several thousand child refugees from Central America apply for asylum in the United States. The approach focuses on having the children apply from their home countries instead of making the dangerous trek to cross the u. S. Border. The plan does not increase the number of refugees allowed in, capping visas for latin america and caribbean at 4000. Oklahoma prison officials have released a new protocol for executions following aprils botched lethal injection of clayton rockets, which lasted 43 minutes. Media witnesses described him writing and moaning in apparent agony. He was injected with an untested cocktail of drugs which included a sedative also used in other prolonged executions, putting one that lasted two hours in arizona. The new protocol in oklahoma last the continued use of the drug that calls for a dose five times what locket received. Changes include more staff changing, contingency problems when problems arise, and the reduction of media witnesses at executions by more than half from 12 to five. Or damaging revelations have emerged about the secret service admits an uproar over an armed intruder who made it inside the white house. Secret Service Officials previously said omar gonzalez, former army sniper who was carrying a knife, was caught near the main entry. But it emerged this week he actually managed to run past a steroid of the first familys living quarters and through the east room before he was apprehended. The Washington Post reports the agent who caught gonzalez was off duty but happen to come across him after his breach. Secret Service Agents had also observed in solace around the white house and the hours before he jumped the fence. Appearing before secret Service Director apologized. It is clear our security plan was not properly executed. This is unacceptable and i take full responsibility and will make sure that it does not happen again. I am committed to the following complete and thorough investigation of the facts of this incident, complete thorough review of all policies, procedures, protocols in place that governed the security of the white house complex, and a response to this incident and based on the results of that review, accord needed informed effort to make any and all adjustments to include training and personnel actions that are necessary to properly ensure the safety and security of the president and the first family in the white house. Julia pierson came under repeated criticism throughout the hearing with several lawmakers calling for an independent investigation of the secret Services Competency to protect the president. The outcry Group Tuesday with news and Armed Security guard with a criminal record was allowed to ride in the same elevator as president obama in atlanta earlier this month, a major breech of protocol. President obama hosted in ukraine minister modi on tuesday for what house meeting. Secretarymet with state john kerry and other leaders. John kerry praised his massive reception before thousands in Madison Square garden on sunday. No matter how warm our welcome here today, were never going to be able to talk your rockstar reception at Madison Square garden. [applause] billy joel called me this morning to make sure he had not taken his regular gig there. None of us have been able to turn on a television or pick up a newspaper without seeing the celebrity coverage that the Prime Minister has received. And with it, for all of us, there is a sense of shared excitement and a sense of shared possibility. Prime minister modi also had a private dinner with president obama and a couple dozen people at the white house. Before his election as Prime Minister of india, modi was barred from the United States for many years over his role in 2002 antimuslim riots that left more than 1000 people dead. Modi was the chief minister where the killings occurred. He is never apologized or explained his actions at the time. Britishs acute ors have dropped a new terrorism case against a former guantanamo prisoner who spent three years in u. S. Custody without charge or trial. Held in seven months in britain for terrorism charges related to a trip he made to syria. He has said he has been harassed for investigating brushes british complicity in torture. Other today, his release was ordered after prosecutor said theres insufficient evidence to bring him to trial on terrorism charges. You can see our interviews with him at democracynow. Org. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. On monday, two high schools outside of denver, colorado canceled classes after dozens of teachers called in sick in protest of the County School boards proposal to revamp their history curriculum. This is the second time in two weeks that teachers have staged what theyre calling a sick out, with 72 of 102 teachers at golden and jefferson high schools reporting absent on monday. Teachers are also protesting a paygrade system that ties their salaries to performance reviews. Last week, hundreds of denverarea High School Students walkout to voice their concerns over censorship of their history curriculum. They held cardboard signs with slogans like, dont make history a mystery and keep your politics out of my education. The protests began after the Jefferson County school board announced it was considering reviewing the curriculum of advanced placement history courses by adding more material to promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the freemarket system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights. The proposal also calls for the removal of Course Materials that encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law. Newly elected School Board Member Julie Williams recently criticized how history is currently taught, saying it has an emphasis on race, gender, class, ethnicity, grievance and americanbashing while simultaneously omitting the most basic structural and philosophical elements considered essential to the understanding of American History for generations. Well, for more, we go now to denver, colorado where were joined by two guests. John ford is the president of the Jefferson County Education Association and a social studies teacher at moore middle school. And,ashlyn maher is a Chatfield High School senior and one of the students protesting the proposed curriculum changes. We also invited Jefferson County School Board Member Julie Williams to join us on our program, but did not receive a response. John ford and ashlyn maher, welcome to democracy now ashlyn maher, when did you get a sense that things were changing . I have been paying attention to the school board for the past year, and i have an increasingly more concerned about what has been going on. When i heard about the first teachers sick out, i realized more students who are interested in being involved in standing up for their education, so i took the incentive and just started educating people. I wanted to let them know what was going on. I started presenting unbiased information, posting on facebook , and talking to people in the hallway. Before we know it, we have a huge following. John ford, explain what is going on. Over the last 10 months, we had a School Board Majority that was elected into office. They were a conservative group that started to push a conservative agenda. Last week, two weeks ago when this proposal came out to create a Community Committee to censor certain parts of our curriculum, i think that is what hit the nerve. And not only hit a nerve with the educators in Jefferson County, buit really hit a nerve with our students, parents, and community as a whole. In this Julie Williams who is leading the charge on this issue in the school board, to your knowledge, what are her credentials for being able to analyze and dissect the problems of the American History ap curriculum . As far as i know, none. She released a statement saying she does not have the authority herself in the background and history to make those judgments, which is why she was creating the committee. But she also never released any statement said the people on the committee would have those qualifications. Speaking on msnbc, Jefferson County School Board Member julie you williams defended her changes to the curriculum. Im not saying lets not teach history accurately, what im saying is lets not encourage our children to disobey the law. Can you respond to that, ashlyn maher . Im not aware that i broke any laws. I think that i was standing up for what i believe in and that people in america have done it for centuries. It is the foundation of our country. I took ap u. S. History myself and all that were presented were the facts. I made the opinions based on those facts. I was never told what to think. These protests are entirely studentled in his what people think is right. John ford, while the students are involved in their protest, the teachers also have particular grievance in terms of policies of the school board. Could you talk about the concerns that led to the sickout of the teachers . It is aagain, i think culmination of things. We have a board majority that consistently over the last 10 secretivelyeen wasteful with taxpayer money and disrespectful to our community. We put all of those things together and then you put in this new committee to sanitize or purify curriculum, i think that is where the nerve was hit again. The ap,oncerned College Board from is a nationally recognized institution that goes throughout the United States in several different countries. And this one hurts kids. The teacher walkouts and the student protests and the parents concerns are all stemming from multiple issues. But what are specifically the teacher concerns that are being expressed in the sick outs . Back to the will go ap and the centering thing. Our the last 10 months, Teachers Association has been engaged in negotiations with the contract. Is somethingitself that has been a 45 year tradition in ou