Unhinged. He said that because he has failed in the campaign. It has been a total disaster. Amy donald trump and jeb bush spar in the first Republican Debate since trump shook up the race by proposing to ban muslims from entering the United States. Senators ted cruz and marco rubio went at it over immigration and domestic surveillance. Trump calls for closing the internet. Many republican contenders also called for expanding the wars in the middle east and enlarging the u. S. Military. And returning to the policies of george w. Bush. George w. Bush made mistakes but he did adjust. I blame obama for isil, not bush. I miss george w. Bush, i wish you were president. We would not be in this mess. Amy the debates were held at Sheldon Adelsons casino in las vegas. We will get response from bob hebert of demos, zed jilani of the intercept, professor steven zunes and Arun Kundnani, author of the muslims are coming islamophobia, extremism, and the domestic war on terror. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The nine leading republican president ial candidates squared off last night in las vegas at the venetian casino, owned by republican billionaire backer sheldon adelson. It was the first debate since donald trump shook up the race by proposing to ban muslims from entering the United States. Trump has gained an alltime high in a recent national poll. As he criticized the obama administrations wars in the middle east tuesday night, trump was interrupted by protester kai newkirk, who decried billionaire politicians. In my opinion [indiscernible] trillione spent 4 dollars trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and we could have spent that 4 trillion in the u. S. To fix roads, bridges and other problems, airports and other problems we have, we would have been a lot better off. Governor jeblorida bush, who has been trailing in the polls, took aim at trumps proposals, including his proposal to ban muslim immigrants. This is not a serious proposal and it will push the arab world away from us at a time when we need to reengage with them to create a strategy to destroy isis. Donald is great at one liners but hes a chaos candidate and he would be a chaos president. He would not be the commanderinchief we need. Amy much of the debate focused on National Security, with candidates pushing for increasing the size of the u. S. Military, escalating the wars in the middle east and empowering the power of the National Security agency. We will talk more about last nights debate after headlines. Secretary of state john kerry said the United States is not seeking the ouster of syrian president bashar alassad. Speaking in moscow following talks with russian leaders, kerry backed the russian demand that it be left up to the Syrian People to determine if assad remains in power. The United States and our partners are not seeking socalled regime change as it is known in syria. What we have said is that we do not believe that assad himself has the ability to be able to lead the future syria. We focus today not on our orferences about what can cannot be done immediately about assad, we focus on the process. Amy defense secretary ash carter is in iraq for talks with iraqi leaders on the usled campaign against the selfproclaimed islamic state. His trip comes amidst revelations the United States has overlooked killings and torture by Shiite Militias sponsored by the Iraqi Government. Reuters reports both the Iraqi Government and the us military carried out investigations following the discovery in 2005 of a secret baghdad prison run by a Shiite Militia where 168 prisoners were found in horrific conditions. Neither report was ever published. The u. S. Report obtained by reuters found evidence of extrajudicial killings and torture, and implicated top iraqi officials who remain in positions of power. Los angeles schools have reopened today after the countrys secondlargest School System was shuttered tuesday following a violent threat. While new york city received a nearly identifical threat, authorities here declared it a hoax, while los angeles officials kept the districts 640,000 students at home. The emailed threats mentioned guns, explosives and nerve gas and were routed through a server in germany. Los angeles mayor Eric Garcetti confirmed tuesday it was not a credible threat. We can announce that the fbi has determined this is not a , something not a credible threat. Some have used words like h oax. Mischieft is criminal are testing vulnerability, we do not know enough to say definitively. We know it will be safe for our children to return to school tomorrow. Amy greek lawmakers have approved a new reform measure demanded by International Lenders in exchange for the next batch of bailout funds. Outside the parliament, hundreds rallied against austerity measures and vowed to continue fighting the bailout terms accepted by greek Prime Minister alexis tsipras. Communist party leader Dimitris Koutsoubas was among those to protest. This bill of prior actions that has been fast tracked in parliament but also the austerity measures coming soon shows theres only one root for the workers movement. A long battle to fight against the system, against these measures that are bad for the people. Amy in baltimore, maryland, the jury in the case of william porter, the first of six officers to face trial over the death of freddie gray, has deadlocked. After deliberating for 10 hours, jurors told the judge tuesday they had failed to reach a unanimous decision, but they are set to continue deliberations today after the judge told they to keep going. Porter, one of three africanamerican officers charged in the case, is accused of failing to summon medical help when freddie gray requested it and failing to secure grays seatbealt. Porter faces up to 10 years in prison. Freddie grays family attorney has said his spine was 80 severed at the neck when he died in police custody, sparking an uprising in baltimore over Police Treatment of african americans. Israeli forces have shot dead two palestinians during a raid on the qalandia refugee camp in the occupied west bank. Israeli authorities said the two young men attempted to ram vehicles into Israeli Forces. Since the beginning of october, Israeli Forces have killed about 120 palestinians. Around 20 israelis and one u. S. Citizen have been killed over the same time period in palestinian attacks. House Speaker Paul Ryan has announced a deal on a 1. 1 trillion spending bill and a package of massive tax breaks democrats say will unfairly benefit corporations. The deal would lift the 40year ban on crude oil exports from the United States, extend tax breaks for wind and solar energy and delay portions of obamas Signature Healthcare law. Privacy advocates have objected to the inclusion of a controversial cybersecurity bill they say will quietly expand mass surveillance by allowing corporations to share sensitive user data with Law Enforcement agencies. The house is expected to hold separate votes on the tax and spending portions of the deal by the end of the week. A new report shows executions in the United States have dropped to their lowest level in nearly 25 years. Of the 28 executions carried out in 2015, 13 took place in texas, 6 in missouri and five in georgia. A total of 49 new death sentences were imposed this year, the lowest number since the early 1970s when the Supreme Court blocked executions. The report comes amid declining public support for the death penalty, halts on executions in a number of states and a shortage of execution drugs following objections from european pharmaceutical companies. The mayor of flint, michigan has declared a state of emergency over lead in the citys drinking water. Last year, the city switched its water source from the detroit system to the flint river. Despite switching back in october, mayor karen weaver said lead levels remain higher than the federal threshold in many homes. A Study Released in september found the proportion of children under five with elevated lead levels in their blood nearly doubled following the switch. Weaver, who just became flints first woman mayor, made the announcement monday night. A South Carolina state lawmaker has prefiled a bill restricting access to viagra and other erectile dysfunction medications for men in order to make a point about increasing restrictions on womens reproductive rights. The bill requires men seeking viagra to undergo a 24hour waiting period, submit a notarized affidavit from a sexual partner, be examined by a statelicensed sexual therapist and attend outpatient counseling sessions. South carolina state representative mia mccleod said she made the bill as complex as possible in order to prove a point about restrictions on abortion. Make itposely tried to as invasive, intrusive, hypocritical and unnecessary as possible to make a point. Amy similar attempts to restrict viagra access in ohio and other states have so far been unsuccessful. And a group of United Nations experts has concluded the United States has failed to uphold gender equality. Following a visit to the United States, the three human rights experts from poland, the United Kingdom and costa rica said they were appalled by the overincarceration of women, mostly for nonviolent crimes. They criticized the quote deeply disturbing condition of Migrant Women in detention centers, and said they were shocked by the lack of accommodation for pregnant women in the workplace. According to the huffington post, the women told reporters the most telling moment of the trip was their visit to an Abortion Clinic in alabama, where they faced harassment from antichoice protesters. Quote, it was a kind of terrorism, the delegate from poland said. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan i am juan gonzalez. Welcome to our viewers and listeners. Before we get to the debate, talk about what happened in congress yesterday. Juan i had a column in todays daily news about a deal reached on spending by congress. It did not include an extension of bankruptcy Protection Laws to puerto rico. The island as suffering under a 72 billion deficit and is debt paymentillion due in two weeks on january 1. The governor of puerto rico, the white house and leaders of congress were trying to get congress to agree to extend bankruptcy protection to allow restructuring of the debt. There were meetings late monday night and into yesterday afternoon between three leading ,epublicans, Chuck Grassley orrin hatch and lisa murkowski, all heads of committees who deal with puerto rico and one way or another. And also Chuck Schumer and maria cantwell. It broke down around noon yesterday. Grassley was insisting he did not want to extend bankruptcy protections to puerto rico. The result is there is going to be a default in two weeks. Is government of puerto rico going to roil the bond market of the u. S. The only weapon the governor has left and say im not going to pay the debt and let wall street deal with the consequences. Amy i encourage people to see your speech that we played on thanksgiving. You can go to democracynow. Org on puerto ricos debt crisis. We will continue to follow this. Juan the nine leading republican president ial candidates squared off last night in las vegas at the venetian casino, owned by republican billionaire backer sheldon adelson. Sheldon adelson and donald trump held a private meeting before the event. It was the first debate since trump shook up the race by proposing to ban muslims from entering the United States. Amy much of the debate focused on National Security with , candidates pushing for increasing the size of the u. S. Military, escalating the wars in the middle east and expanding the power of the National Security agency. Prior to the primetime event, four other republicans took part in the socalled undercard debate. Senator Lindsey Graham said he wished president george w. Bush was back in the white house. George w. Bush made mistakes, but he did adjust. I blame obama for isil, not bush. I am tired of beating on bush. I miss george w. Bush. I wish he were president right now, we would not be in this mess. Amy during the primetime debate, some of the tensest moments occurred in exchanges between another bush, george w. Bushs brother jeb, and donald trump. The debate opened when Cnns Wolf Blitzer asking trump about his proposal to ban muslims. As you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus on americas borders. You say you want to temporarily and nonamerican muslims from coming to the United States. Ban refugees fleeing isis from coming here. Deport 11 Million People and wall off americas southern border. Is the best way to make America Great again to isolate it from much of the rest of the world . We are not talking about isolation. We are talking about security. We are not talking about religion. We are talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great while. People will not come in ms they come in legally. Other people like migration, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with isis flags on them, i do not think so. They are not coming to this country. If im president and if obama has brought some to this country, they are leaving, they are going, they are gone. [applause] governor bush, you called mr. When henhinged proposed banning nonamerican muslims from the u. S. Why . We need to destroy isis in th caliphate. The refugee issue will be solved if we destroy isis there. We need a nofly zone, safe zones and to build a military force. We need to embed our troops in the iraqi military. We need to arm the kurds. That has to be done in concert with arab nations. If we are going to ban muslims, how are they going to get them to be part of a coalition to destroy isis . Our strongest allies, they are muslims. This is not a serious proposal. It will push the arab world away from us at a time when we need to reengage with them to create a strategy to destroy isis. Donald is great at the one liners but hes a chaos candidate. Hes be a chaos president. We would not be the commander in chief to keep our country safe. [applause] mr. Trump . Jeb does not really believe im unhinged. He said that because he has failed in this campaign. It has been a disaster. Nobody cares and frankly i am the most solvent person appear. I built a tremendous company. All i want to do is make american great again. I do not want our country to be taken away from us and that is what is happening. The policies weve suffered under other president s have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America Great again. Jeb, he does not believe that. Banningis the problem, all muslims will make it harder for us to do what we need to do, to destroy isis we need to get the lawyers off the back of the war fighters. Obama we president have created this standard that is so high that it is impossible to be successful fighting isis. We need to engage with the arab world to make this happen. It is not a serious proposal to say to the people you are asking for their support that they cannot even come to the country to engage in a dialogue with us. That is not a serious proposal. We need a serious leader and i believe im that guy. Kundani,ing us is arun author of the muslims are coming islamophobia, extremism, and the domestic war on terror. Adjunct professor at new york university. This was the first debate since donald trump called for a ban on muslims coming into the u. S. Can you talk about the back and forth and the response of republicans around this issue . Arun in my summary, should we be committing war crimes in the middle east by carpet bombing civilians or should we have dictators bombing civilians. Muslims that and ban from coming to the u. S. , how do we have the dictators come here . Lets let in some muslims but take away their rights. This is the feel of last nights debate. It is unprecedented to have this level of hateful rhetoric. S. Rected against muslim we are back to the fullblown. Ar on terror at least after 9 11 we were responding to what was an exceptional event. San bernardinout is it is a normal event in america. Amy can you explain what you mean . Arun if we want to see San Bernardino as exceptional, then were basically saying we care more about the 45 people in the u. S. Who have been killed by muslim terrorists in 9 11 then the 48 killed by rightwing terrorists since 9 11 than the 400,000 killed by gun related crimes in the u. S. Since 9 11. That is the number of a small country but we focus on the one issue of muslim terrorism. That is our only idea of violence that we think about. Juan did you see in any of the 9 candidates of their a up there, a more sane approach distinguish and one from another . Arun the vari