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Debate: After Shocking Vote, Can U.K.'s Radical Left Navigate a "Left Exit" from EU Neoliberalism?
Britain has stunned the world by voting to leave the European Union, putting an end to a 43-year relationship. British Prime Minister David Cameron led the campaign to "remain" in the union, and responded to the vote by announcing he would resign by October. The so-called Brexit vote passed by 52 percent, and the United Kingdom will now become the first major country to leave the bloc of 27 nations. European Union President Martin Schulz called on the remaining member states to enter discussions to help protect the eurozone and the pound. We go to London to get reaction and examine the country’s next steps with guests on both sides of the vote: Joseph Choonara, member of the Socialist Workers Party and spokesperson for Lexit, the Left Leave campaign, and Alex Scrivener, policy officer at Global Justice Now who campaigned with Another Europe is Possible, the left campaign for Britain to remain in the EU.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Britain has stunned the world by voting to leave the European Union, putting an end to a 43-year relationship. The so-called Brexit vote passed by 52 percent to 48 percent. The Guardian calls it a "turning point in British history to rank alongside the two world wars of the 20th century." Britain will be the first major country to leave the European Union. The decision to leave rather than remain means Britain will now launch a two-year-long process to renegotiate trade deals and political links with what will now become a bloc of 27 nations. British Prime Minister David Cameron led the campaign to keep Britain in the EU, and he responded to the vote by announcing he would step down by October.
PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON: The British people have made a very clear decision to take a different path. And as such, I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction. I will do everything I can as prime minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months, but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination. This is not a decision I’ve taken lightly, but I do believe it’s in the national interest to have a period of stability and then the new leadership required. In my view, we should aim to have a new prime minister in place by the start of the Conservative Party Conference in October. And I will do everything I can to help. I love this country, and I feel honored to have served it. And I will do everything I can in future to help this great country succeed.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Polls ahead of the Brexit vote showed the race would be close, and the momentum had appeared to be on the remain side. The referendum turnout saw the the single highest U.K.-wide election turnout of the past two decades. The final figure was 72 percent. Former London Mayor Boris Johnson, who is from the same party as Prime Minister Cameron, was the most prominent supporter of the leave campaign and could be a leading contender to replace him. Today Johnson was booed as he left his London home.
PROTESTERS: Boo! Boo! Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Later in the morning, Boris Johnson praised Cameron after his resignation announcement and promised that he would not rush to leave the European Union.
BORIS JOHNSON: In voting to leave the EU, it is vital to stress that there is now no need for haste. And indeed, as the prime minister has just said, nothing will change over the short term, except that work will have to begin on how to give effect to the will of the people and to extricate this country from the supranational system. And as the prime minister has rightly said, there is no need to invoke Article 50.
AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, Britain’s Independence Party leader, Nigel Farage, called for a Brexit government.
NIGEL FARAGE: I hope this victory brings down this failed project and leads us to a Europe of sovereign nation-states trading together, being friends together, cooperating together. And let’s get rid of the flag, the anthem, Brussels and all that has gone wrong. Let—let June the 23rd go down in our history as our independence day!
AMY GOODMAN: Global financial markets have plunged in response to Britain’s vote. Today, European Union President Martin Schulz called on the remaining member states to enter discussions to help protect the eurozone and the pound.
For more, we go to London, where we’re joined by two guests. Joseph Choonara is a member of the Socialist Workers Party, spokesperson for Lexit—that’s the leave—the Left Leave campaign. Also joining us is Alex Scrivener, policy officer at Global Justice Now. He campaigned with Another Europe is Possible, the left campaign for Britain to remain in the European Union.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Let’s first go to Joseph. Your response? This is what you pushed for.
JOSEPH CHOONARA: Yes. This is a really historic decision, and we have to remember the big picture here, which is that the European Union has been underneath the U.S., one of the key organizers of neoliberal capitalism on a global scale, a key force of imperialism in the world, and the organization that has been punishing workers in Greece, in Spain, in Ireland, under the period of austerity. It’s operated as a sort of reserve army for the capitalist classes of Europe in extremis. And in a sense, I hope that Britain voting to leave—which, of course, Britain is the second-biggest economy in Europe—begins to precipitate the breakup of this huge bosses’ club. So that’s the basis on which we campaigned for exit of the U.K. from the EU. It was on the basis of an internationalist, anti-racist and progressive vote against neoliberalism.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But, Joseph Choonara, how do you respond to those who say that the driving force of the Brexit campaign was an anti-immigrant, xenophobic and nationalist movement, and that this—that your portion of the left in Britain has basically united with that movement?
JOSEPH CHOONARA: Well, actually, we set up the Lexit campaign precisely because we wanted there to be an independent voice that didn’t unite with those people. But it’s true that there are people in the exit camp—Nigel Farage, who we just heard from, Boris Johnson and so on—who are perfectly happy to play the race card and whip up xenophobia against migrants. That’s entirely true. However, it would be a gross mistake for people on the left and progressives to believe that all those who voted for exit were motivated by racism. Of course, there was a racist exit vote, but there were also huge numbers of people—the vast majority of skilled, unskilled and semiskilled workers in this country voted to leave. Major cities in the north of England—Sheffield, Bradford and Birmingham, for example—big, multicultural cities, voted overwhelmingly—or, not overwhelmingly, but narrowly, to leave in this referendum campaign. It’s not true that all those people are motivated by racism.
It’s also the case, on the remain side, there are racist forces. You take David Cameron, who led the remain campaign. He’s just launched—or, he launched a few months ago a Islamaphobic campaign against Sadiq Khan, who is running for mayor of London, abusing his authority in the Houses of Parliament to smear that figure, Labour Party figure, and claiming he was sympathetic to ISIS, when there’s no evidence for that whatsoever. The Tory government has also put through one of the most draconian immigration bills in British history, something which will turn every estate agent, every employer into effectively a border guard for Britain. So, we shouldn’t assume that the leave campaign have a monopoly on racism. We do have a very, very big struggle to fight against racism in this country. That will be the case whatever the outcome of the referendum. But I think both myself and Alex are very committed to now, whatever the outcome of the referendum, taking forward that struggle.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Alex Scrivener, you’re pro-remain; you wanted Britain to remain in the European Union. Respond.
ALEX SCRIVENER: Well, I think we need to be clear and wake up a little bit to the reality of and the enormity of what’s happened here. I don’t think this is anything else but a massive defeat for progressive forces, not just in the U.K., but across Europe. You know, we see celebration from the likes of Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Front in France, Geert Wilders in Holland, far-right forces in Germany and Austria. This is a victory that the most unsavory parts of politics, not just here in the U.K., but across Europe, are celebrating. And I think, as people who are progressives and believe in an anti-racist, anti-xenophobic future for our country and for our continent, we should be very, very worried. We’ve woken up today to a Britain in which it is a much, much scarier place to be a migrant.
And, yes, I mean, there are many problems with the European Union. My campaign, Another Europe is Possible, we campaigned explicitly to stay in to change it, to make it into a better organization, to democratize it. The EU is—what the EU did in Greece was an abomination. But that—I mean, despite all that, what is definitely clear is that this referendum, which has been fought by the leave camp pretty much on two issues, one of which is—sort of basically lies about putting more money into NHS, which I think everyone almost agrees, including many people in the leave side agree, were basically untrue, and the second issue, which I think was probably overwhelming and probably led to their victory, was immigration. And I think that should scare us a lot. And it does scare me. I have been up all night, and I’m genuinely terrified about the future for this country and this continent. And, you know, from Trump in America to Le Pen in France, the enemies of progressive politics, the enemies of internationalism are celebrating, and we should be worried.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Alex Scrivener, what about the issue of—you mentioned immigration. What will happen now in terms of immigration policy in Britain, especially because the European Union obviously allowed the flow of labor from one country to another, in terms of migrant laborers being able to enter Britain?
ALEX SCRIVENER: I mean, it’s very difficult to predict exactly what is going to happen. What I would suspect is very likely, since a large proportion of this vote has been about immigration, unfortunately—and that’s a failure of us on the progressive side to appeal to people and to make the argument, a positive argument, for immigration and for free movement—because of that, I very much suspect that this country is going to become a much scarier, much more difficult place to live, if you’re—if you don’t sound like Boris Johnson or Michael Gove.
AMY GOODMAN: Today, British Prime Minister David Cameron assured investors Britain’s economy remains strong.
PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON: Across the world, people have been watching the choice that Britain has made. I would reassure those markets and investors that Britain’s economy is fundamentally strong. And I would also reassure Brits living in European countries and European citizens living here that there will be no immediate changes in your circumstances. There will be no initial change in the way our people can travel, in the way our goods can move or the way our services can be sold.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s British Prime Minister David Cameron. This was European Parliament President Martin Shulz’s reaction to the impact of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.
MARTIN SCHULZ: Both sides should respect mutually their different views. Now, the United Kingdom decided to leave, and therefore the member states who remain in the European Union must discuss how to improve the European Union and how to protect—especially the eurozone countries, how to protect the eurozone in the next coming month, to protect against what is happening already now with the pound, what is already happening on the international markets. In that time we are entering, in turbulent times, we need stability, and that’s what I hope what will be the outcome of the next meetings.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Joseph Choonara, I’d like you to respond to those comments. And also, could you talk about what you think will happen now with Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party leader, who was also a supporter of the—of staying in the European Union?
JOSEPH CHOONARA: Yeah. I mean, on the first point about the economic situation, I think part of the problem is, for most ordinary working people in Britain, there’s a sense that the British economy is failing them. There’s massive inequality. Millions of people feel left behind. And for those people, it’s very unclear to them what the European Union was doing to help those people. All they see from the European Union is more democratic unaccountability, more neoliberalism and all the rest of it. Let’s see what happens with the economic situation at the moment. My own view is that the crisis of 2008 is far from over. Whichever way the vote went, there was a prospect of the economy worsening.
On the question of Corbyn, it’s very interesting. You see, Corbyn, historically, has been an opponent of the European Union, on the same sort of basis that I’m opposed to the European Union. And one of the things he’s charged with by the right wing of his own party, the Labour Party, which has now a petition calling for Corbyn’s removal, is that he wasn’t enthusiastic enough about the European Union. Now, part of the problem here, I think, is it’s a mistake for the radical left to prop up these institutions of neoliberal capitalism. See, it’s true, what Alex says, that there are people on the right across Europe cheering on British withdrawal from the European Union. There are also people on the left. I have two messages from Greek workers, before I came into the studio, saying that people were celebrating in Athens about this. The point is that there is going to be popular opposition to these kind of institutions. Does it receive a right focus or a left focus? That’s the challenge for us. And I think, therefore, it was a mistake for Corbyn not to come out and campaign against the European Union on a left perspective. It would have made the voice of people who wanted a left exit far louder if we had had a Corbyn onside. Nonetheless, what Corbyn has said this morning is that we have to accept the results of the referendum, and now we have to campaign for a fairer Britain and a better deal for working-class people, immigrants and all the rest of it. And I support Corbyn in that. Personally, one of the things I will be campaigning for, now Cameron has said he’s stepping down, is a fresh election in Britain, because whoever steps into Downing Street will have no mandate. Therefore, we’d like to see new elections. And in those elections, I would hope that Jeremy Corbyn would win.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, let’s get Alex Scrivener’s response. Also, Donald Trump made a remarkable trip to Scotland in the midst of all of this and made it very clear, using the media, being Trump TV, showing him live wherever he is—he simply made it an ad for his Scottish resort, his golf club. When asked about what’s happened, the big, massive news of Brexit, he said that it would be a good time to visit his golf resort, because the pound was low. Alex Scrivener, if you can talk about what you see happening now? I mean, we’re having an unusual debate: two people on the left for and against Brexit. You have Thomas Mair, the murderer of Jo Cox, who shouted "Britain First" when he killed her. She was, of course, pro-remain. And now, what, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy—is the European Union seeing the beginning of the end, Alex? And what difference does that make?
ALEX SCRIVENER: I mean, I hope not, but the prospect of that is truly terrifying to me. I think this is where I disagree most sharply with Joseph, you know, that you can call the EU a bosses’ club all you like. One thing it has definitely done is it’s secured peace on this continent since the Second World War. And, you know, the Europe that Nigel Farage describes, the Europe of sovereign countries, the Europe of countries divided and doing their own thing, we had that Europe. We had that Europe for going on 2,000 years. And in those—for those two millennia, we have seen constant war, constant suffering on this continent. And this short period of the postwar era has been the longest period of peace on this continent. And I fear, with the rise of the far right—Austria came within a whisker of electing a far-right president. We are living in very terrifying times. The National Front may be—is leading the polls at the moment for the French presidential election. You know, I think we’re on a level of political crisis here we haven’t seen since the 1930s. And I think that the sort of glee on some parts of the left about the EU breaking up, I think people are going to regret that, if that leads to a retreat into nationalism, which is already happening.
I mean, there is no such thing as a left exit to the European Union from the U.K. And there may have been in Greece. There definitely isn’t here. The only exit that was on the menu was the exit offered by Nigel Farage and the exit that was supported by people like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Marine Le Pen. And unfortunately, the people of Britain have narrowly taken that option. And I think to pretend that, you know, the left in this country, the progressive side of the political spectrum, was more or less—you know, not completely united, obviously, as Joseph is on the opposite side, but all—most, the vast majority of trade unions, labor unions, the vast majority of progressive organizations in this country, anti-racist campaigners, the vast majority were in favor—albeit reluctantly, for many reasons—for remain, because we were afraid of what was going to happen. And unfortunately, what we’ve seen so far is going along that script that we really feared. And I think, you know, we need, as there is a huge responsibility on all of us, no matter which side we were on, on the progressive side of the spectrum, to fight for migrant rights, fight for those people who are going to lose hardest from this historic and tragic moment in our history.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you both for being with us. Alex Scrivener, pro-remain, Global Justice Now, campaigned with Another Europe is Possible, the left campaign for Britain to remain in the EU, which did not happen. A record vote is leading to Britain leaving the European Union. And Joseph Choonara, member of the Socialist Workers Party, spokesperson for Lexit, the Left Leave campaign.
This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. When we come back, we come back to the United States, another major decision, this one a U.S. Supreme Court decision, huge defeat for the immigrants’ rights movement in this country. It was a split U.S. Supreme Court. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: The Clash, "Should I Stay or Should I Go." Well, Britain has decided: They’re going. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. ... Read More →
Undocumented Mother & U.S. Citizen Daughter Call on Obama to Stop Deportations Despite SCOTUS Ruling
As a split Supreme Court blocks President Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program, or DAPA, which would have shielded millions of immigrants with U.S. citizen or permanent resident children from deportation, we speak with an undocumented activist, Maru Mora Villalpando, and her daughter, Josefina Mora, who is a U.S. citizen. "Those who are undocumented have to take this disappointment" from the ruling "and turn it into anger" to push Obama to stop deportations and to try again to reform immigration policy.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to bring in Maru Mora Villalpando. What happens to you now? Explain what this means for you as a mother of a U.S. citizen, Josefina Mora. Explain what the Supreme Court decision—how it will affect you.
MARU MORA VILLALPANDO: Thank you. Well, it keeps me the same as I’ve been in these past 20 years: trying to avoid police, ensuring that my daughter knows everywhere I go, creating a network that will support me in case I get detained and placed in deportation proceedings. So, our lives continue pretty much the same, being just, you know, the result of these political games. This is what me and millions of parents, and even those that are not parents, that are being excluded from DACA and DAPA, will have to continue facing.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Josefina Mora, your—as you hear the presidential race proceeding, the arguments over immigration, the refusal of Republicans to act on comprehensive immigration reform, what’s your sense of what you, as a person here in the United States, has to do in the coming months?
JOSEFINA MORA: Well, I think that it’s important—the elections are incredibly important. And I feel lucky that, as a U.S. citizen—and it is my first year voting, actually, so I think that it’s going to be a tough election year. But I think, aside from elections, it is really important to use my privilege as a U.S. citizen to organize my community, not only within the Latino community, but within the white community, because I am surrounded by a lot of white people. I think that especially those who are undocumented have to take this disappointment and turn it into anger. I think that that anger needs to show into organizing and to pushing Obama not only to stop deportations, but to really try again, in this little time that he has left, to do something on immigration, because this is unacceptable. This decision really represents the racism that this country was founded on and the racism against the president, as well, because they are trying to block every action that he is trying to do.
AMY GOODMAN: Josefina, you were arrested at a Trump rally in May in Washington state?
JOSEFINA MORA: I was.
AMY GOODMAN: And why were you there protesting? How old are you, by the way?
JOSEFINA MORA: I’m 18. I just turned 18, so I’ll be 19 this year. I participated in that rally because I wanted my community to know that we will not allow bigotry to be in our community, because more—it’s bigger than the Trump campaign, really. It’s just representing a country that’s founded on hate, on racism, on the taking of native peoples’ land. We want to remind people that this land really is the native peoples’ land, and we shouldn’t be having—immigrants shouldn’t be having to ask permission for the U.S. government to allow them to stay; really, it should be the native people. So our message was make Lynden, which is where he was, Coast Salish again, which is the native peoples’ original name for the land. And so, it was really important for me to represent, not only as a citizen of this country, but as a daughter of immigrants, that we will not allow bigotry and hatred into our community, on especially a town that’s so historically racist.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And I wanted to go back to Thomas Saenz for a moment. The DACA that President Obama first promulgated several years ago, in terms of young people brought to this country as undocumented, that was not at all affected by this particular battle that rose up from Texas and went to the Supreme Court and got deadlocked, right?
THOMAS SAENZ: That’s correct. The 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals remains in place, and those who are eligible really should continue to apply for renewal, for new applications. That is still available and is an avenue to obtain work authorization. So far, over 700,000 immigrants have obtained deferred action through DACA, and that should continue. All that was at issue in this case was the new initiative of Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and an expansion of eligibility for the pre-existing DACA initiative.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But Donald Trump, who is the presumptive Republican nominee, has vowed to reverse DACA if he is elected, correct?
THOMAS SAENZ: Well, that’s the problem. Deferred action programs are an exercise of prosecutorial discretion, so any president, this president or his successor, could choose to end deferred action, or could choose to limit it in any way, which is why we really need our government to do its job by enacting immigration reform, as we have been expecting for well over a decade. But it’s an emblem of the continued dysfunction that we now have not only a Congress that can’t act on immigration reform, but a Senate leadership that refuses to act on a nominee to the Supreme Court, and, by consequence, a deadlocked Supreme Court on one of the most critical issues facing the country.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank Maru Mora and Josefina Villalpando for joining us from Seattle, Washington. ... Read More →
Second Baltimore Officer in Freddie Gray Death Cleared of Depraved-Heart Murder & Rough Ride Charges
A second police officer in Baltimore has been acquitted on all charges for his role in the arrest of Freddie Gray, who died of spinal injuries last year after he was arrested and transported in a police van. Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., who was driving the van, faced the most serious charges of all officers involved, including second-degree depraved-heart murder and three additional charges of manslaughter. Prosecutors contended Goodson gave Gray a "rough ride," failed to ensure his safety, and should have called for a medic. We get reaction from Doug Colbert, professor of law at the University of Maryland School of Law, director of the Access to Justice pretrial clinic and founder of the Lawyers at Bail Project, as well as Joshua Harris, Baltimore’s Green Party candidate for mayor.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We end today’s show in Baltimore, where a second police officer was acquitted on all charges for his role in the arrest of Freddie Gray, who died of spinal injuries last year after he was arrested and transported in a police van. Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., who was driving the van, faced the most serious charges of all officers involved, including second-degree depraved-indifference murder and three additional charges of manslaughter. Billy Murphy, the Gray family attorney, responded to the verdict.
BILLY MURPHY: Can you imagine how hard this has been for this family, particularly Freddie’s mother? It’s been very, very difficult. Can you imagine losing a son under circumstances shrouded basically in secrecy? Can you imagine the frustration that nobody yet has been found culpable or liable for something that somebody did? So, this is a very frustrating experience for mama and for daddy and for the rest of us.
AMY GOODMAN: Caesar Goodson was one of six officers charged in Gray’s death and the third to go on trial. Officer Edward Nero was acquitted of all four misdemeanor charges last month. Officer William Porter was the first officer to go to trial, charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. In December, Judge Williams declared a mistrial in Porter’s case after jurors were unable to reach a verdict on any of the charges after three days of deliberation.
For more, we’re joined by Doug Colbert, professor of law at the University of Maryland School of Law. Also, Joshua Harris, Baltimore’s Green Party candidate for mayor.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Doug Colbert, let’s begin with you. The significance—now, this was a bench trial, right? Caesar Goodson was charged with the most serious charge, second-degree—and can you explain "heart murder"?
DOUGLAS COLBERT: Sure, Amy, but it’s important keep in context that—how rare it is for police officers to be charged with homicide throughout our country. There’s been approximately 10,000 people killed while in police custody during the last 10 years, and only 54 have made it to trial, and only four have been convicted. So, it’s exceedingly rare. And what we’re seeing here in Baltimore is a local prosecutor who conducted an independent investigation because she was well aware of the likely outcome if police investigated themselves. And the prosecution presented a very strong case against Officer Porter in the first trial, nearly convicting him of two charges.
And yesterday’s trial concluded with an acquittal. But in my opinion, they once again presented a strong case, and that would include the depraved indifference, as well as the reckless homicide and the other assault and misconduct charges. And that’s because Officer Goodson was under a duty to safeguard and protect a prisoner, Freddie Gray, while in his van. That’s his job to do. And he left Freddie Gray handcuffed and shackled on the floor of a van, inches away from banging his head against the metal insides of that van. And when we look at that situation and we see Officer Goodson time and again standing outside the van, never going inside, never checking on his prisoner, never asking anything that would allow him to call for a medic, go to a hospital, put some seat belts on him, something that would help protect Freddie Gray, that’s where—if you look at that four or five times he had opportunity to do it, that’s where the depraved indifference comes in, as well as being aware of the risk and consciously disregarding it.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Joshua Harris, I want to get your response to the verdict and also to the calls by some who say that the state’s attorney should not continue to prosecute the remaining officers now that she’s had two acquittals and one hung jury.
JOSHUA HARRIS: I don’t think that the verdict was a surprise. This is a complicated case. And I also believe that the state’s attorney should continue with the remaining cases. We also know that the officers that are coming up, the trials that will be preceding us, are the officers that first initiated contact with Mr. Gray. And so, I think that it’s extremely important for us to see this trial come forward, and the evidence be submitted, and see the outcome of it. I think that many citizens in Baltimore are not surprised. I think that they understand that justice for Baltimore extends far beyond Freddie Gray. Justice for Baltimore is about Tyrone West, who occurred before Freddie Gray, two years prior. Justice for Baltimore is understanding the racial divides, the class divides and the economic impoverishment that exists in Baltimore, that has created the conditions for situations like Freddie Gray to exist here in the city.
AMY GOODMAN: Joshua Harris, the first trial, the hung jury, was a jury trial; next two, bench trials, acquitted. Talk about the strategy here that the police are using.
JOSHUA HARRIS: Well, I think that the police understand that they have more—a better chance with a judge, dealing with a judge directly, than with dealing with a jury of Baltimoreans, who understand that there’s a history of police brutality. Unfortunately, we’ve created a culture that has been accepted, where police have not been held accountable or responsible for their actions here in Baltimore City. And they understand that they’re more likely to go directly with the judge giving the outcome, versus Baltimoreans, who understand what’s happened here, what’s happened historically here in the city.
AMY GOODMAN: Doug Colbert, finally, if you could comment on a Supreme Court decision that came down on—earlier this week, that has to do with police powers, where Judge Sonia Sotomayor quoted everyone from Ta-Nehisi Coates of Baltimore to Michelle Alexander?
DOUGLAS COLBERT: Yeah, well, Freddie Gray was really charged with running from the police. I mean, he committed no crime. He was charged with no crime. And another Supreme Court case gave the police reasonable suspicion to go after Freddie Gray. This case was even more deplorable, Amy, because what’s done now is that police can literally stop you, detain you, investigate whether you have any outstanding warrants, without any belief that you do have a warrant. So police can now stop—if they find a warrant—and they found one for the Utah man for failing to pay a traffic fine—then they can arrest you and do a full-blown search. And Justice Sotomayor really took on Justice Thomas’s majority opinion. And—
AMY GOODMAN: And we’re going to leave it there right now, but we’re going to continue the conversation post-show and post it online at democracynow.org. Doug Colbert, professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, and Joshua Harris, Baltimore’s Green Party candidate for mayor, thanks so much, both, for joining us.
I’ll be speaking Saturday at the WAM!NYC Gender Justice in Media Conference at Barnard College at 4:00 p.m. Check democracynow.org. Democracy Now! has two job openings: news producer and senior video producer. Check Democracy Now! ... Read More →
As SCOTUS Deadlocks on Obama's Immigration Plan, Immigrants "Continue to Live in Daily Fear"
In a major setback for the immigrant rights movement, a divided Supreme Court has blocked President Obama’s plan to shield as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. On Thursday, the court returned a 4-4 ruling, leaving in place a lower court decision that Obama had overstepped his authority. The case concerned Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program, or DAPA, which would have shielded millions of immigrants with U.S. citizen or permanent resident children from deportation. It also affects Obama’s attempt to expand the existing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which since 2012 has protected immigrants brought to the United States as children. The ruling is likely to further amplify the role of immigration in the 2016 presidential election. We speak with Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, who was one of four attorneys to argue the immigration case before the Supreme Court.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: In a major setback for the immigrant rights movement, a divided Supreme Court has blocked President Obama’s plan to shield as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. On Thursday, the court returned a 4-4 ruling, leaving in place a lower court decision that Obama had overstepped his authority. The case concerned Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program, or DAPA, which would have shielded millions of immigrants with U.S. citizen or permanent resident children from deportation. It also affects Obama’s attempt to expand the existing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which since 2012 has protected immigrants brought to the United States as children. At a news conference in Los Angeles, undocumented immigrants responded to the Supreme Court’s tie.
MARIA ORTIZ: [translated] I had this little bit of hope that I would be able to see my parents, which has now been dashed. But I also know that we will not stop. Together, we will continue to fight, because this fight must go on, and it will not stop. We need to knock on doors and touch hearts, because we are immigrants who came to this country to carry it, not to burden it, and we deserve an opportunity to be here legally.
ANGEL: I just graduated from high school, and I had the hopes that I would get the work permit to help out my family. But unfortunately this happened, and it’s really heartbreaking, because I just had the hopes that one day I would get to contribute and help out my mom, because all I want to do is help out my family.
GABRIELA CID: Today also reminds me that we just have to keep fighting, because so many millions of people, like my parents, are waiting for this. And it has been a very long fight, one that I’ve been involved in for a very long time, and it’s very tiresome. But just remembering all those moments helps you remember that we always stand up and fight back. And that’s what we continue doing. We continue moving forward.
AMY GOODMAN: The Supreme Court case came after 26 states, led by Texas, sued to block Obama’s immigration plan. Following the death of Antonin Scalia, the court has only eight members. Republicans have blocked President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to replace Scalia. Speaking at the White House Thursday, President Obama responded to the deadlocked Supreme Court decision.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: For more than two decades now, our immigration system, everybody acknowledges, has been broken. And the fact that the Supreme Court wasn’t able to issue a decision today doesn’t just set the system back even further, it takes us further from the country that we aspire to be.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Meanwhile, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton welcomed the ruling, saying it, quote, "keeps in place what we have maintained from the very start: one person, even a president, cannot unilaterally change the law. This is a major setback to President Obama’s attempts to expand executive power, and a victory for those who believe in the separation of powers and the rule of law," unquote. The ruling is likely to further amplify the role of immigration in the 2016 presidential race.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined now by three guests. In Los Angeles, we’re joined by Thomas Saenz, president of MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. He was one of four attorneys to argue the immigration case before the Supreme Court. And in Seattle, Washington, we’re joined by Maru Mora Villalpando, an activist and undocumented immigrant with the group Latino Advocacy and part of the #NotOneMoreDeportation campaign organized by the [group Mijente], one of millions of people impacted by the Supreme Court’s ruling. And we’re joined by her daughter, as well, Josefina Mora, who is a U.S. citizen.
We’re going to start, though, with Thomas Saenz, who was one of those lawyers who argued this case before the Supreme Court. Split decision, 4-4, your response?
THOMAS SAENZ: It’s a disappointment. But it really points out how dysfunctional and politicized our system, even in the courts, has become. The fact that there are only eight justices is a fact that comes to us because the United States Senate refuses to do its job and pass on the nomination put forward by President Obama. In fact, Judge Garland was nominated to the court more than 30 days before the argument in this case, more than enough time for him to have been seated to hear the argument and to render a decision in this case together with his colleagues. In addition, of course, the 26 states, who are responsible for seeking to stop a program that would only benefit their state and their residents, should be held accountable for continuing to hold hostage this important initiative announced by the president in November of 2014 to provide temporary relief to so many millions of people who are raising families, contributing to our economy and society year after year after year.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Thomas Saenz, just to get clear on what the deadlock was over, it wasn’t a deadlock over the substance of the issue, but a deadlock over whether a preliminary injunction would be issued, pending resolution, right? Could you explain that?
THOMAS SAENZ: That’s correct. This was a decision on preliminary injunction. So, the litigation is ongoing. There’s still action to be taken in the courts. And we, together with the United States government, will be working in the courts to try to ensure that the president’s authority, well established by all of his predecessors, to engage in this kind of prosecutorial discretion is vindicated, approved, and that relief can be provided.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But you’ll have to go back to the U.S. district court in Texas to actually argue the case itself, the substance of whether the president does have the power to issue these temporary stays.
THOMAS SAENZ: That’s correct, unless there is a petition for rehearing, which is something that we and the government, I am certain, are looking at, which is whether to ask the Supreme Court to hold the case over until it has a ninth justice, and rehear the preliminary injunction appeal.
AMY GOODMAN: Thomas Saenz, you are representing three mothers in this country without documentation, who have U.S. citizen children. When you argued before the high court, you said they live in daily fear of being detained or deported. What happens now?
THOMAS SAENZ: Well, unfortunately, the status quo remains. They will continue to live in that daily fear, which is why what the president announced was such wise policy and really to the benefit of everyone, including the governors and attorneys general in those 26 states, who nonetheless took it upon themselves to block the program nationwide. In fact, these are folks who deserve to have that protection from the daily fear, including the fear experienced by their U.S. citizen children, many of them very young, who go to school every day not knowing whether they’ll come home to an empty home or to the absence of one of their parents, who might have been placed in detention or removal proceedings. This is a very reasonable response to the fact that these are important components of our community. These are folks who are contributing to our economy, to our society, and deserve to live without that daily fear and deserve to live with work authorization, so they can continue to raise their families successfully in this country.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But just to be clear, the president, in his statement yesterday, said that as far as he’s concerned, the issue of deportations will remain as it is now, with a low priority by the administration for law-abiding, undocumenteds to be deported. The only issue here is whether they’d be able to get temporary work authorizations under this program, right?
THOMAS SAENZ: Well, first of all, work authorization is really critical for folks to have the right to work and support their families with full legal protections. But moreover, there have been problems in the immigration enforcement scheme under this administration, where rank-and-file officers around the country have not followed those enforcement priorities and have placed people who are clearly, by anyone’s consideration, low-priority targets into deportation and detention. And that’s the problem that the announcements in November 2014 of an expansion of DACA and the implementation of DAPA would have addressed. It would have ensured nationwide uniform enforcement of those priorities when it comes to immigration issues. ... Read More →
SCOTUS Ruling on Race-Conscious College Admissions a Great Victory for Equal Educational Opportunity
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Fisher v. University of Texas and held that the University of Texas at Austin’s race-conscious admissions program is lawful under the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. "It is simply not true that we could eliminate the box and somehow act as if we are adequately evaluating students," says Thomas Saenz, lawyer with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which filed an amicus brief on behalf of over 20 national Latino advocacy groups supporting the race-conscious admissions program. "The fact is that race and gender and national origin still matter," he adds, because they shape one’s opportunities and experiences, and therefore one’s potential in higher education.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Thomas Saenz, we want to turn to another issue with you, another major Supreme Court decision. On Thursday, the Supreme Court affirmed the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Fisher v. University of Texas and held the University of Texas at Austin’s race-conscious admissions program is lawful under the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Late last year, Thomas Saenz, your organization, MALDEF, filed an amicus brief on behalf of 20 national Latino advocacy groups supporting the affirmative action program. I want to get your response to the Supreme Court ruling. But first, let’s to turn to the petitioner in the case, Abigail Fisher, who says she was rejected by the UT because she’s white. In this online video, she billed her lawsuit against affirmative action as a challenge to discrimination.
ABIGAIL FISHER: There were people in my class with lower grades, who weren’t in all the activities I was in, who were being accepted into UT, and the only other difference between us was the color of our skin. ... A good start to stopping discrimination would be getting rid of the boxes on applications—male, female, race, whatever. Those don’t tell the admissions people what type of student you are or how involved you are. All they do is put you into a box. Get rid of the box.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Abigail Fisher, who brought the case. Thomas Saenz, your response?
THOMAS SAENZ: Well, it was a great victory in the Supreme Court in Fisher yesterday. It does ensure that, across the country, universities can continue to use affirmative action in admissions, which is a necessary element of providing equal educational opportunity in this country. It’s simply not true that we could eliminate the box and somehow act as though we are adequately evaluating students. The fact is that race and gender and national origin still matter in this country. It shapes how students who are preparing for college are allowed to prepare. It shapes their opportunities. It shapes their experiences. And preventing universities from considering such an important element of a student’s experiences, and therefore their potential for success in higher education, is simply foolish, not just as a matter of equal educational opportunity, but as a matter of ensuring that our universities are admitting those students with the greatest potential to succeed.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But now, how—how broad is this decision? Because some people have argued that it was specifically tailored to the unique admissions program that exists at the University of Texas, in the state of Texas, and might not necessarily be broad enough to cover admissions policies at other universities.
THOMAS SAENZ: Well, this is the second time that the Fisher case has gone to the Supreme Court. A few years ago, the court agreed that the university could have an affirmative action, a race-conscious affirmative action program, if it was pursuing the interest of diversity. So that was a first step. This was a more detailed application of the test to the specific UT-Austin program. But nonetheless, the victory yesterday is an indication to universities around the country that they can continue to pursue these programs, so long as they do so consistent with the restrictions placed on them by the Supreme Court. So it was a victory that extends beyond the University of Texas at Austin to all universities that are considering race as one limited element of decision-making when it comes to admissions.
AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you very much for joining us, Thomas Saenz, president of MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we head east to Baltimore, Maryland, to another police officer acquitted in the death of Freddie Gray. Stay with us. ... Read More →
Headlines:Britain Stuns World by Voting to Leave the European Union
Britain has stunned the world by voting to leave the European Union, becoming the first major country to leave the bloc in EU history. British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation after leading the campaign to keep Britain in the European Union. He’ll step down in October. The Guardian calls the decision a "turning point in British history to rank alongside the two world wars of the 20th century." Financial markets plunged after the news, with the value of the British pound dropping to the lowest level against the dollar since 1985. We’ll have more on this historic vote after headlines.
TOPICS:
Britain
Split Supreme Court Blocks Obama's Immigration Plan
Back in the United States, in a major setback for the immigrant rights movement, a split Supreme Court has blocked President Obama’s plan to shield as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. The Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program, or DAPA, would have shielded millions of immigrants with U.S. citizen or permanent resident children from deportation. Thursday’s decision may also affect President Obama’s plan to expand DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. In Los Angeles, undocumented immigrant Angel spoke out after the ruling.
Angel: "I just graduated from high school, and I had the hopes that I would get the work permit to help out my family. But unfortunately this happened, and it’s really heartbreaking, because I just had the hopes that one day I would get to contribute and help out my mom, because all I want to do is help out my family."
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called the ruling "heartbreaking," while Donald Trump praised the decision.
TOPICS:
Supreme Court
Immigration
Supreme Court Upholds Race-Conscious Affirmative Action
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also ruled to uphold a race-conscious affirmative action program at the University of Texas. The petitioner, Abigail Fisher, has accused the University of Texas at Austin of discrimination for rejecting her college application, she says, because she is white. But in a 4-3 ruling, the court upheld the constitutionality of taking race and ethnicity into account. Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe said, "No decision since Brown v. Board of Education has been as important as Fisher will prove to be in the long history of racial inclusion and educational diversity."
TOPICS:
Race in America
Supreme Court
Civil Rights
Bernie Sanders: "Never, Ever Lose Your Sense of Outrage"
In news from the campaign trail, Sen. Bernie Sanders pledged to continue fighting what he calls a political revolution to transform the Democratic Party and the nation, while speaking in New York City Thursday. The speech was entitled "Where Do We Go from Here?"—a likely reference to Martin Luther King’s iconic speech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference convention in 1967. Sanders pledged to fight to defeat Donald Trump in November, and to campaign for local progressive candidates. He also urged his supporters to "never lose their sense of outrage" over economic inequality.
Sen. Bernie Sanders: "We cannot allow ourselves to become used to the fact that we got hundreds of thousands of children in this country who are homeless. That is our greatest danger, becoming used to it and thinking that it is normal. It is not normal. It is an outrage. And never, ever lose your sense of outrage."
TOPICS:
Bernie Sanders
2016 Election
Business Leaders Line Up to Endorse Hillary Clinton
Meanwhile, a number of business leaders have come out backing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Among her backers are Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Warren Buffett, as well as the CEOs of General Motors, Delta Air Lines, Airbnb, AT&T and Boeing.
TOPICS:
Hillary Clinton
2016 Election
Protester Disrupts Trump Speech with Swastika-Painted Golf Balls
Meanwhile, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has arrived in Scotland today, where he faces a barrage of protests and a boycott by a series of politicians, including Scotland’s first minister. Trump held a press conference this morning at the Trump Turnberry golf resort. As U.S. networks switched to play his sales pitch live, a young man wearing a Trump Turnberry sweater stood up holding up red golf balls with Nazi swastikas, saying, "These are the new balls available from the clubhouse, part of the new Trump Turnberry range."
Protester: "These are the new balls available from the clubhouse, part of the new Trump Turnberry range. And I forgot to hand them out. Ah, that’s that comedian, isn’t it? What’s his name?"
Donald Trump: "Get him out."
Donald Trump also praised the outcome of the Brexit vote, saying British people had "taken back their country." In fact, Scotland overwhelmingly voted to stay in the European Union. Despite the fact that Trump arrived in Scotland only hours after one of the most significant developments in modern British history, the goal of his trip is not political, but rather to visit his two golf courses. One of the courses, north of Aberdeen, has lost millions of dollars and has attracted no major tournaments. Trump had once pledged it would create 6,000 jobs, but it currently only employs 150 people.
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
2016 Election
Fired Trump Campaign Manager Lewandowski Hired by CNN
Meanwhile, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has been hired byCNN as a political commentator. Lewandowski was fired Tuesday. He was charged with battery in March after surveillance footage showed him grabbing reporter Michelle Fields. Fields said Lewandowski left bruises on her arm. The charges were later dropped.
TOPICS:
2016 Election
Donald Trump
Judge Rules Cleveland RNC Restrictions Unconstitutional
A federal judge has ruled Cleveland’s sweeping restrictions on protests during the Republican National Convention next month are unconstitutional. The ruling comes after the American Civil Liberties Union sued Cleveland. The city had demarcated a 3.3-square-mile "Event Area" in downtown Cleveland that would have been subject to broad restrictions during the convention, including banning everyday items such as umbrellas with metal tips, glass bottles, canned goods, large backpacks and sleeping bags.
TOPICS:
Republican Party
ACLU
2016 Election
Cleveland: FBI & DHS Knocking on Activists' Doors Ahead of RNC
Meanwhile, The Intercept is reporting the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service have begun knocking on the doors of more than a dozen Cleveland activists ahead of the RNC. Jocelyn Rosnick of the National Lawyers Guild said, "The purpose of these door knocks is simple: to intimidate the target and others in efforts to discourage people from engaging in lawful First Amendment activities."
TOPICS:
2016 Election
Democrats End 25-Hour Sit-in Without a Vote on Gun Control
On Capitol Hill, Democrats have ended a 25-hour sit-in to demand action on gun control—without succeeding in forcing the House to a vote. The sit-in was initiated by Congressmember John Lewis, a veteran of the civil rights movement, and comes in the wake of the Orlando massacre at an LGBT nightclub which left 49 people dead. On Tuesday, the Senate did vote on four separate gun control measures. All four measures failed.
TOPICS:
Gun Control
Baltimore: 2nd Police Officer Acquitted in Death of Freddie Gray
In Baltimore, a second police officer has been acquitted on all charges for his role in the arrest of Freddie Gray, who died of spinal injuries last year after he was arrested and transported in a police van. Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., who was driving the van, faced the most serious charges of all officers involved, including second-degree depraved-heart murder and three additional charges of manslaughter. We’ll have more on Baltimore later in the broadcast.
TOPICS:
Freddie Gray
Police Brutality
Report: Chicago Spent $210 Million on Police Lawsuits from 2012-2015
Meanwhile, a new report says the city of Chicago has spent more than $210 million on police misconduct lawsuits between 2012 and 2015. The analysis by The Chicago Reporter also found city officials had borrowed millions to pay for the more than 600 lawsuits over the three-year period, taking out bonds that have added to the city’s debt.
TOPICS:
Chicago
Police Brutality
Plane Completes First Solar-Powered Flight over Atlantic
And a single-seater plane has successfully completed the first-ever solar-powered flight over the Atlantic. The plane, the Solar Impulse 2, departed from John F. Kennedy International Airport early Monday and arrived in Seville, Spain, Thursday after a 71-hour-and-8-minute journey. Pilot Bertrand Piccard spoke out after the successful flight.
Bertrand Piccard: "The new world is the world of modern, clean technologies, the world of respect for the environment, the world of innovation, the world of pioneers. This is the world that Solar Impulse and its team would like to represent, would like to promote. So we really hope that this flight symbolizes the flight from the old world to the new world."
TOPICS:
Climate Change
Donate today:
Follow:
SPEAKING EVENTS
Britain has stunned the world by voting to leave the European Union, becoming the first major country to leave the bloc in EU history. British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation after leading the campaign to keep Britain in the European Union. He’ll step down in October. The Guardian calls the decision a "turning point in British history to rank alongside the two world wars of the 20th century." Financial markets plunged after the news, with the value of the British pound dropping to the lowest level against the dollar since 1985. We’ll have more on this historic vote after headlines.
TOPICS:
Britain
Split Supreme Court Blocks Obama's Immigration Plan
Back in the United States, in a major setback for the immigrant rights movement, a split Supreme Court has blocked President Obama’s plan to shield as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. The Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program, or DAPA, would have shielded millions of immigrants with U.S. citizen or permanent resident children from deportation. Thursday’s decision may also affect President Obama’s plan to expand DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. In Los Angeles, undocumented immigrant Angel spoke out after the ruling.
Angel: "I just graduated from high school, and I had the hopes that I would get the work permit to help out my family. But unfortunately this happened, and it’s really heartbreaking, because I just had the hopes that one day I would get to contribute and help out my mom, because all I want to do is help out my family."
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called the ruling "heartbreaking," while Donald Trump praised the decision.
TOPICS:
Supreme Court
Immigration
Supreme Court Upholds Race-Conscious Affirmative Action
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also ruled to uphold a race-conscious affirmative action program at the University of Texas. The petitioner, Abigail Fisher, has accused the University of Texas at Austin of discrimination for rejecting her college application, she says, because she is white. But in a 4-3 ruling, the court upheld the constitutionality of taking race and ethnicity into account. Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe said, "No decision since Brown v. Board of Education has been as important as Fisher will prove to be in the long history of racial inclusion and educational diversity."
TOPICS:
Race in America
Supreme Court
Civil Rights
Bernie Sanders: "Never, Ever Lose Your Sense of Outrage"
In news from the campaign trail, Sen. Bernie Sanders pledged to continue fighting what he calls a political revolution to transform the Democratic Party and the nation, while speaking in New York City Thursday. The speech was entitled "Where Do We Go from Here?"—a likely reference to Martin Luther King’s iconic speech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference convention in 1967. Sanders pledged to fight to defeat Donald Trump in November, and to campaign for local progressive candidates. He also urged his supporters to "never lose their sense of outrage" over economic inequality.
Sen. Bernie Sanders: "We cannot allow ourselves to become used to the fact that we got hundreds of thousands of children in this country who are homeless. That is our greatest danger, becoming used to it and thinking that it is normal. It is not normal. It is an outrage. And never, ever lose your sense of outrage."
TOPICS:
Bernie Sanders
2016 Election
Business Leaders Line Up to Endorse Hillary Clinton
Meanwhile, a number of business leaders have come out backing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Among her backers are Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Warren Buffett, as well as the CEOs of General Motors, Delta Air Lines, Airbnb, AT&T and Boeing.
TOPICS:
Hillary Clinton
2016 Election
Protester Disrupts Trump Speech with Swastika-Painted Golf Balls
Meanwhile, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has arrived in Scotland today, where he faces a barrage of protests and a boycott by a series of politicians, including Scotland’s first minister. Trump held a press conference this morning at the Trump Turnberry golf resort. As U.S. networks switched to play his sales pitch live, a young man wearing a Trump Turnberry sweater stood up holding up red golf balls with Nazi swastikas, saying, "These are the new balls available from the clubhouse, part of the new Trump Turnberry range."
Protester: "These are the new balls available from the clubhouse, part of the new Trump Turnberry range. And I forgot to hand them out. Ah, that’s that comedian, isn’t it? What’s his name?"
Donald Trump: "Get him out."
Donald Trump also praised the outcome of the Brexit vote, saying British people had "taken back their country." In fact, Scotland overwhelmingly voted to stay in the European Union. Despite the fact that Trump arrived in Scotland only hours after one of the most significant developments in modern British history, the goal of his trip is not political, but rather to visit his two golf courses. One of the courses, north of Aberdeen, has lost millions of dollars and has attracted no major tournaments. Trump had once pledged it would create 6,000 jobs, but it currently only employs 150 people.
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
2016 Election
Fired Trump Campaign Manager Lewandowski Hired by CNN
Meanwhile, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has been hired byCNN as a political commentator. Lewandowski was fired Tuesday. He was charged with battery in March after surveillance footage showed him grabbing reporter Michelle Fields. Fields said Lewandowski left bruises on her arm. The charges were later dropped.
TOPICS:
2016 Election
Donald Trump
Judge Rules Cleveland RNC Restrictions Unconstitutional
A federal judge has ruled Cleveland’s sweeping restrictions on protests during the Republican National Convention next month are unconstitutional. The ruling comes after the American Civil Liberties Union sued Cleveland. The city had demarcated a 3.3-square-mile "Event Area" in downtown Cleveland that would have been subject to broad restrictions during the convention, including banning everyday items such as umbrellas with metal tips, glass bottles, canned goods, large backpacks and sleeping bags.
TOPICS:
Republican Party
ACLU
2016 Election
Cleveland: FBI & DHS Knocking on Activists' Doors Ahead of RNC
Meanwhile, The Intercept is reporting the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service have begun knocking on the doors of more than a dozen Cleveland activists ahead of the RNC. Jocelyn Rosnick of the National Lawyers Guild said, "The purpose of these door knocks is simple: to intimidate the target and others in efforts to discourage people from engaging in lawful First Amendment activities."
TOPICS:
2016 Election
Democrats End 25-Hour Sit-in Without a Vote on Gun Control
On Capitol Hill, Democrats have ended a 25-hour sit-in to demand action on gun control—without succeeding in forcing the House to a vote. The sit-in was initiated by Congressmember John Lewis, a veteran of the civil rights movement, and comes in the wake of the Orlando massacre at an LGBT nightclub which left 49 people dead. On Tuesday, the Senate did vote on four separate gun control measures. All four measures failed.
TOPICS:
Gun Control
Baltimore: 2nd Police Officer Acquitted in Death of Freddie Gray
In Baltimore, a second police officer has been acquitted on all charges for his role in the arrest of Freddie Gray, who died of spinal injuries last year after he was arrested and transported in a police van. Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., who was driving the van, faced the most serious charges of all officers involved, including second-degree depraved-heart murder and three additional charges of manslaughter. We’ll have more on Baltimore later in the broadcast.
TOPICS:
Freddie Gray
Police Brutality
Report: Chicago Spent $210 Million on Police Lawsuits from 2012-2015
Meanwhile, a new report says the city of Chicago has spent more than $210 million on police misconduct lawsuits between 2012 and 2015. The analysis by The Chicago Reporter also found city officials had borrowed millions to pay for the more than 600 lawsuits over the three-year period, taking out bonds that have added to the city’s debt.
TOPICS:
Chicago
Police Brutality
Plane Completes First Solar-Powered Flight over Atlantic
And a single-seater plane has successfully completed the first-ever solar-powered flight over the Atlantic. The plane, the Solar Impulse 2, departed from John F. Kennedy International Airport early Monday and arrived in Seville, Spain, Thursday after a 71-hour-and-8-minute journey. Pilot Bertrand Piccard spoke out after the successful flight.
Bertrand Piccard: "The new world is the world of modern, clean technologies, the world of respect for the environment, the world of innovation, the world of pioneers. This is the world that Solar Impulse and its team would like to represent, would like to promote. So we really hope that this flight symbolizes the flight from the old world to the new world."
TOPICS:
Climate Change
Donate today:
Follow:
SPEAKING EVENTS
Sotomayor "Tells It Like It Is" & Slams Racial Profiling, Illegal Search and Seizure in Scathing Dissent
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