Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20150423 : comparemela.

A 27yearold africanamerican man who died sunday from spinal injuries, one week after Baltimore Police arrested him. His family and attorney say his voice box was crushed and his spine was 80 severed at his neck. The department of justice is now investigating his death. We will go to baltimore where we will be joined by the former president of the Baltimore City council, eddie conway, a former member of the baltimore black panthers who spent more than four decades in jail, and dominique stevenson, a local activist who was arrested at a protest yesterday. Been to yemen. Then to yemen. Protecting civilians from a takeover by the houthis and to work on enhancing the flow of humanitarian assistance to yemen and ease the work of International Humanitarian organizations. Amy after saudi arabia declared an end to its military operation, the Saudi Led Coalition continues to bomb yemeni cities as listed civilian as the civilian death toll mounts. We will speak with saudi expert toby jones of rutgers university. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Warplanes from the Saudi Led Coalition struck the yemeni cities as aden early today despite a previous claim by the odd it had ended its nearly monthlong operation. Saudi officials said wednesday it will limit their military role but continue to respond to houthi attacks. Human rights watch says they have appellate deliberately bombed near that contains supplies to facilitate access to clean water for thousands of families. International committee of the red cross has warned the humanitarian situation in yemen is catastrophic. We will have more later in the broadcast. In the european country of malta, 24 and identified migrants who died in the worst migrant boat disaster in the mediterranean have been held in european country have been laid to rest. As many as 850 people drowned after their boat capsized while headed to europe from libya. In britain, protesters climbed into body bags and laid on a beach to protest the migrant deaths. Carla mclaren of Amnesty International said european leaders need to take stronger action. Today remembering the people who of lost their lives in the mediterranean and sending a really, really clear message to David Cameron and other eu leaders that they need to act decisively and quickly in response to this crisis, and that means restarting searchandrescue in the mediterranean. Amy european leaders are gathering in brussels today for an emergency meeting on the migrant crisis. A leaked draft of the summit statement obtained by the guardian shows only 5,000 refugees would be offered the chance to resettle in europe. At least 150,000 others would be deported. In chile, thousands of people have been evacuated from a remote area in the south following the eruption of the calbuco volcano, which has lain dormant for over 40 years. The volcano has erupted twice in the span of hours. The initial eruption caused sent sent a spectacular plume of lava and ash shooting miles into the sky. Authorities in japan are the investigating appearance of a the appearance of a drone containing possible Radioactive Material on the roof of Prime Minister shinzo abes office. Radioactive cesium was detected in the area after the drone was found carrying a bottle of liquid bearing the symbol for radioactivity. The drones discovery wednesday came the same day a Japanese Court approved the restart of a Nuclear Power station as part of Prime Minister abes push to return to Nuclear Power following the fukushima meltdown in 2011. In the United States, Senate Lawmakers are expected to approve Loretta Lynch as the first African American woman to serve as attorney general today, after unanimously passing a Human Trafficking bill which delayed her confirmation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell had refused to allow a vote on lynchs nomination until the trafficking bill passed. For six weeks, the bill stalled as democrats objected to a provision they say would have expanded the ban on taxpayer funding for abortion known as by applying it to nontaxpayer funds. The compromise still blocks abortion funding for victims but does not extend the federal ban. Loretta lynch, the u. S. Attorney in brooklyn, new york has waited over five months for a confirmation vote, longer than any cabinet nominee in the last three president ial administrations. She would replace outgoing attorney general eric holder. Federal regulators appear poised to derail a planned merger between the nations two largest cable providers, time warner and comcast. The wall street journal reports fcc staff have thrown up a significant roadblock to the deal by recommending a procedural move to place the merger in the hands of an Administrative Law judge. The cable firms may still have a chance to weigh in before the process moves ahead, but the process is expected to be a lengthy process, and is a sign the fcc opposes the merger. If it was allowed the takeover , would grant comcast a virtual monopoly in 19 of the countrys 20 top media markets. A senate bill has allowed president obama authority to rush the Transpacific Partnership trade deal through congress. The tpp is a currently being negotiated between the United States and 11 other pacific rim countries. The fasttrack measure would allow obama to present the agreement to congress for a yesorno vote, with no amendments allowed. The committee eventually approved the measure, after a creative maneuver by vermont senator Bernie Sanders delayed. By applying an esoteric and rarely used scheduling rule, sanders blocked the committee from taking up the measure until at least 4 00 p. M. He said he wanted to give the American People time to understand the tpp. Not only is there massive opposition to this tpp agreement, but there is a lot of concern the American People have not been involved in the process , that there is not a lot of transparency. So what were trying to do is to make sure this debate takes place out the American People have as much time as possible to understand the very significant implications of this trade agreement. I, and i suspect others, amy house panel is expected to consider fasttrack legislation today. Senate republicans have introduced a bill to fast track the extension of the National Security agencys bulk surveillance of call records. While bipartisan lawmakers have sought to reform the bulk spying program after it was exposed by edward snowden, the measure introduced late tuesday by senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell and Intelligence Committee chair richard burr would fully reauthorize sections of the patriot act, which let the nsa vacuum up million of americans phone records every day. That authority expires june 1 unless Congress Takes action. In baltimore, protests over the death of freddie gray have entered their fifth day. The 27yearold africanamerican man died sunday from spinal injuries, one week after Baltimore Police arrested him. A witness has said police bent gray like a pretzel with amy in the back of his neck. Six officers have been suspended in connection with his death. Only five have given testimony or made statements. We will go to baltimore for more after headlines. The family of michael brown, the 18yearold African American whose Fatal Shooting by Police Officer Darren Wilson ignited the black lives matter movement, are suing the city of ferguson missouri. The family will announce their civil lawsuit today, accusing ferguson of liability for browns wrongful death. Darren wilson avoided both criminal and civil rights charges for browns death. In california, the local chapter of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union has vowed to shut down ports on may 1 in a historic protest against Police Brutality. In a statement, the union said it is fitting that on may Day International workers day, bay area ports will be shut down to protest the racist Police Killing of mainly black and brown people. Its the first time a union has taken such action. In 2008, the same chapter shut down Pacific Coast ports to demand an end to the wars in iraq and afghanistan. A deputy u. S. Marshal is facing an investigation after he was caught on video smashing the cell phone of a woman who was trying to film police activity. A bystanders video from the incident sunday in south gate, california, shows the marshal grabbing the cell phone out of beatriz paezs hand as she tries to film, then throwing it to the ground and kicking it. Paez displayed her smashed phone as she spoke to local abc 7 news. Through everything on the ground and smashed it with his foot. He stomped on it. He picked it. Amy the clinton familys charities are refiling at least five annual tax returns after an investigation by reuters found errors in how they reported donations from governments. Reuters found for three years in a row beginning in 2010, the Clinton Foundation reported to the irs that it received zero in funds from foreign and u. S. Governments. But several foreign governments actually continued to donate tens of millions of dollars to the foundation. Meanwhile, another report has raised questions about the Clinton Foundations connection to a russian takeover of a canadian uranium mining company. According to a New York Times report based a forthcoming book called, clinton cash, by peter schweizer, the state department, then led by hillary clinton, gave its approval to a deal which granted the russians control of onefifth of uranium Production Capacity in the United States. Amid the takeover by the company which became known as uranium , one, the Clinton Foundation received donations of over 2 million from the firms chairman. A federal judge has approved a settlement to compensate National Football League Players who suffer the impacts of repeated head injuries. The nfl estimates nearly 1 3 of its players will suffer longterm cognitive problems like alzheimers. After 5,000 players sued the league, the nfl has agreed to pay up to 5 million for players who develop certain crippling neurological diseases. Critics say the settlement will exclude people whose conditions are not covered. About 200 players have opted out. In South Carolina, a transgender teenager has won the right to wear makeup in her drivers license photo after suing the States Department of motor vehicles. Chase culpepper said dmv employees forced her to remove her makeup to look male for her initial picture. Under the terms of a settlement, the dmv will allow people to be photographed however they typically appear. Culpepper called the settlement a major victory for transgender rights. I am thrilled to be standing before you announcing the historic settlement with the South Carolina dmv. From day one, all that i wanted was to get a drivers license that looked like me. And now that i can finally have my photo taken with makeup, money lessons will reflect that. I brought this case because what happened to me was wrong. It was hurtful to be singled out for being transgender. Amy louisiana governor bobby jindal has vowed to fight for the passage of a law that critics say would allow discrimination against lgbt people by preventing the state from punishing Companies Based on their religious views of marriage. In an oped in the New York Times, governor jindal, who is expected to seek the republican nomination, condemned indiana and arkansas for caving to protests from businesses over their socalled religious freedom measures. Ibm has already opposed louisianas marriage and conscience act. Jindal wrote companies are free to voice their opinions, but they will not deter me. Here in new york, an environmentalist marked earth day wednesday by swimming the gowanus canal, one of the most polluted waterways in north america. The Environmental Protection agency has declared the canal a superfund site, saying years of runoff, sewer outflows and discharge from industrial plants left it roiling with heavy metals, coal tar wastes and other contaminants. Christopher swain spent nearly an hour swimming in the canal wearing a protective suit. He said his goal is to accelerate efforts to clean up the canal. This is a no joke im a difficult cleanup. This is a no joke difficult cleanup. Even though it is discouraging and difficult, lets find the courage to do it anyway. Im also saying, lets define clean up differently. Lets not clean it up part of the way, sort of not bad. Lets make it sparkle. Lets make it a diamond. Lets make the standard of clean swift enough safe enough to swim in every day. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. Nermeen welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin todays show in baltimore where protests over the death of freddie gray have entered their fifth day. The 27yearold africanamerican man died sunday from spinal injuries, one week after Baltimore Police arrested him. His family and attorney say his voice box was crushed and his spine was 80 severed at his neck. A preliminary autopsy report showed he died of a spinal injury. Video shot by a bystander shows gray screaming in apparent agony as police drag him to a van. You can hear the bystanders voice. Look at his legs. Look at his legs. That was legs. You are dragging him like that. Amy another witness said the police bent him like a pretzel. Gray was then held inside a police van for 30 minutes. Police said during transport to Western District via wagon transport the defendant suffered a medical emergency and was immediately transported to shock trauma via medic. The department of justice is now investigating grays death for possible civil rights violations. Since 2011, baltimore has paid roughly 6. 3 million to Settle Police misconduct claims. Baltimore Authorities Say five of the six officers involved in the arrest of gray have now given statements to the Baltimore Police. One has not. They remain suspended with pay. Baltimore Police Union Attorney Michael Davey told reporters the officers were right to chase gray after he ran away when a lieutenant made eye contact with him. They pursued mr. Gray. They detained him for an investigative stop. Had he not had a knife or in a legal weapon on him, he would have been released. They know what role they played in the arrest of mr. Gray. What we dont know and what were hoping the investigation will tell us is what happened inside the back of the van. He was placed in the transport van. Whether he was seatbelted in. Something happened, we just know what it was. Asked you think any of the six officers to meet it a crime . No. Based on the information i know, no. Nermeen well, on wednesday, our next guest spoke with residents of the gilmor homes Housing Projects in west baltimore where freddie gray was arrested, including one woman who says she witnessed officers loading him into the back of a police van. In a minute, well be joined by eddie conway of the Real News Network. But first, this is a clip of his interview. I am eddie conway. I seen it. My kitchen faces the street. The paddy wagon was like this. They took the young man out and beat him some more. The man wasnt responding. They took him by his pants and he was dragged. I asked them to indolence. They tommy to mind my business. I told them, it is my business. They just threw him up in there. The boy wasnt hollering or nothing. He wasnt hollering or nothing. How can you holler if you arent saying nothing . They killed that young man. Amy eddie conway of the Real News Network interviewing residents of the gilmor homes Housing Project where freddie gray was arrested. He was there last night when protesters calling for justice in his case marched again, and he joins us now from baltimore. Eddie conway is an executive producer for the Real New