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GOP Delegate & Schoolteacher: Melania Trump Gets a "Zero" for Plagiarizing Michelle Obama Speech
On Monday night, Donald Trump’s wife Melania Trump gave the keynote address. But the speech was not without controversy. Many commentators have accused Melania Trump of plagiarizing parts of first lady Michelle Obama’s speech from the 2008 Democratic National Convention. We ask two Republican delegates for their reaction.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, last night, Donald Trump was on the floor of the convention, on the stage, because he was introducing his wife Melania, who was giving her first major speech. I think the—90 seconds was the longest speech she had given before. She got up on the stage. She spoke. She gave the keynote address. But the speech was not without controversy. Many commentators have accused Melania Trump, or her speechwriter—not clear who did this—of plagiarizing parts of Michelle Obama’s speech that she gave in 2008 at the Democratic National Convention there. This clip compares the two speeches, beginning with Michelle Obama.
MICHELLE OBAMA: Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life.
MELANIA TRUMP: The values that you work hard for what you want in life.
MICHELLE OBAMA: That your word is your bond, that you do what you say you’re going to do.
MELANIA TRUMP: That your word is your bond, and you do what you say and keep your promise.
MICHELLE OBAMA: That you treat people with dignity and respect.
MELANIA TRUMP: That you treat people with respect.
MICHELLE OBAMA: Because we want our children and all children in this nation to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them.
MELANIA TRUMP: Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.
AMY GOODMAN: So, here you have Michelle Obama 2008, Melania Trump today, 2016. Clearly, the words the same. Kendal Unruh, your response?
KENDAL UNRUH: Well, I’m a teacher. If there’s plagiarism, she gets a zero. Unfortunately, the buzz should have been about the speech itself. And it’s not. It’s about the tactics of how it was comprised. Once again, it goes to show that the inner workings of the Trump campaign are in disarray, because that is a huge no-no. And if you are going to plagiarize, why don’t you plagiarize from a conservative icon and not quote Michelle Obama? This is a problem, because this—whenever you have shifted the debate from something that you’re supposed to be talking about, when—it’s called a bump. You’re going to want to get a little bit of bump out of the first—the potential first lady’s speech. And yet, here’s the criticism of it. And that’s what he wanted to avoid. But obviously, whatever staffer did this—now, I heard that she claimed that she wrote the speech herself, which actually makes this even doubly troubling, if she—double troubling, if she thought that cutting and pasting was actually the way to effectively communicate to an audience, because this created a blowback that I’m sure they did not anticipate.
AMY GOODMAN: The Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort, finally spoke up this morning and said something about this isn’t plagiarism, these are common words. Raju, your response to this? You’ve heard the exact words being repeated.
RAJU CHINTHALA: I think the—Mrs. Trump spoke very well, she being an immigrant from another country, immigrated and waited for a long time. And she explained how she came here and worked hard and met Trump. And that, itself, will speak for America, what America is for, and an immigrant coming here and raising up to and potentially first lady. I think she wanted to bring all people together within the party. She talked about education. She talked about job. And she talked about her husband, how good her husband is as a person.
AMY GOODMAN: Were you concerned about this, the—using the exact wording of Michelle Obama’s speech from—
RAJU CHINTHALA: No, no. I mean, that is true, that every kid—every kid needs education. Every kid needs to be taken care of and provide the lifestyle what we all have. And if—and also, she said about—
AMY GOODMAN: Do you think she should have just quoted her and said, "To quote the first lady, Michelle Obama," and then—
RAJU CHINTHALA: I don’t think it’s exact words. It’s the content.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, as we heard, it was, in many cases, the exact words.
RAJU CHINTHALA: The content of that. But I think what she meant is to, as a first lady, if potential and when she becomes, what her charity programs or what she will do. And those are like the things that a first lady will be doing.
KENDAL UNRUH: Can I address that? Because, actually, this goes to the heart of who Donald Trump is anyway. He has vociferously defended the way that he makes a living, through eminent domain, stealing other people’s property. So, this is just par for the course. What is wrong with stealing other people’s property, if it suits your needs and the outcome of what you’re trying to obtain? That’s what the whole world got to see.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’e going to leave it there. I want to thank you both for being with us. Our guests have been Kendal Unruh, who is a Colorado delegate—she’s really led the charge for Never Trump. Is it over?
KENDAL UNRUH: No, it’s not over. We’re actually going to be challenging the vote delegations from the—the tallies, when they are submitted tonight, to the chairman of the convention, from the delegation chairs. We get to challenge that, because they’re not going to be accurately reflected of the votes in the delegations themselves.
RAJU CHINTHALA: So what it means is, primary, we should just take out the primary election at all in this country.
KENDAL UNRUH: A primary is a preference poll; it’s not a ballot vote.
RAJU CHINTHALA: And then, delegates should just come to the convention and vote at the convention, so that we don’t have this process, we don’t have this many candidates touring and spending all this money around the state.
AMY GOODMAN: Because, Raju’s saying, it would nullify the primaries.
RAJU CHINTHALA: If—if—
KENDAL UNRUH: Well, a primary is just a preference poll. It’s not an actual vote.
RAJU CHINTHALA: That’s what it is. Then why should we have a primary and spending our taxpayers’ money?
KENDAL UNRUH: Do away with the primaries, I agree.
RAJU CHINTHALA: Taxpayers’ money on these, and then the candidates who won a majority of the delegates and majority of the votes around the country, and now we are saying no Trump. I mean, he is the nominee of the Republican Party.
KENDAL UNRUH: But just so you know, your candidate—
RAJU CHINTHALA: And also, he selected a vice-presidential candidate who is going to add value. I know both are saying he’s different, he’s different. But that’s what we need. The Republican Party needs a good candidate. Right now, we have—whatever is we have is the best candidate we have in the party. And party needs to be united.
KENDAL UNRUH: Well, but—
RAJU CHINTHALA: And convention is a part of it. But if that’s what RNC wants, or the people of delegates wants, so they need to change—and not this election, but next coming election, after maybe 2020.
KENDAL UNRUH: But your candidate—
RAJU CHINTHALA: They can change and—rules, and eliminate this primary elections at all from February to May.
KENDAL UNRUH: But your candidate—excuse me, your candidate actually pushed through the rules for primaries to remain open, and a blanket primaries. He killed that. We tried to shut him down. He made sure that the very thing that he benefited from—and that was the open primaries and the blanket primaries—were Democrats and independents, chose this Trojan horse candidate for us. And now we, as delegates, have the job and the duty to either rubber-stamp what was given to us by a preference poll or not. That is our job as delegates.
AMY GOODMAN: In fact, you didn’t even have a presidential poll in Colorado. Is that right?
KENDAL UNRUH: Well, it was a straw poll, which is nonbinding anyway. We have a caucus system that has worked for over a hundred years. I went out, and I campaigned. I spent thousands of my own dollars getting voters to vote for me. And that was a series of four different elections. And when Donald Trump had the chance to come in and re-establish some type of rapport with Colorado, when he had the opportunity, once again, he stuck the knife in and lied that we didn’t have an election. And we did.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to have to leave it—
RAJU CHINTHALA: So, like, where was the voice when he—
AMY GOODMAN: Ten seconds.
RAJU CHINTHALA: Where was the voice when he put the nomination? Because everybody goes through the Republican Party to be—put them on ballot. And that’s where we should have a voice, if that is the case. So now it’s too late. Trump-Pence for November election, and we are going to win.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re going to continue to follow this debate. I want to thank Raju Chinthala, who is a speech pathologist in Indiana, an Indiana Republican delegate backing Donald Trump; Kendal Unruh from Colorado, leader of the Never Trump movement.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we go to Baltimore, Maryland, to the Freddie Gray case. Stay with us. ... Read More →
Third Officer Acquitted in Freddie Gray Death, But Activists Convicted for Protesting Killing
We go to Baltimore to get reaction to the acquittal of a third police officer 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. Lt. Brian Rice, the highest-ranking officer on the scene, faced charges of involuntary manslaughter, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. Judge Barry Williams had dropped a charge of second-degree assault at the trial’s midpoint. We speak with Sheryl Wood, a former federal prosecutor and legal analyst; and Kwame Rose, a Baltimore activist and producer with The Real News Network. He was convicted for failing to obey an order from law enforcement while protesting the December mistrial of Officer William Porter. Rose’s appeal begins today.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, "Breaking with Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency." I’m Amy Goodman. We’re in Cleveland at the Republican National Convention, but we’re going to Baltimore, where a third 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. Lieutenant Brian Rice, the highest-ranking officer on the scene, faced charges of involuntary manslaughter, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. Judge Barry Williams had dropped a charge of second-degree assault at the trial’s midpoint. Baltimore defense attorney Warren Brown responded to the verdict.
WARREN BROWN: You know, the state at this point is not just 0 for four. The state is 0 for close to 24, because when you add up all the charges in the various indictments, that’s how many counts that we’re talking about. And so, at some point in time, you would have to think that the evidence is just not going to support any further prosecutions of these police officers.
AMY GOODMAN: Freddie Gray died in April 2015 from a spinal injury sustained while being transported in the back of a police van. Gray’s family and attorney say his voice box was crushed and his spine was, quote, "80 percent severed at his neck."
Well, Lieutenant Rice was one of six officers charged in Gray’s death and the fourth to go on trial. Officers Caesar Goodson and Edward Nero were acquitted of all counts in two earlier trials. 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 right now by two guests. Sheryl Wood is a former federal prosecutor and legal analyst. And Kwame Rose is a Baltimore activist and producer with The Real News Network. He was convicted for failing to obey an order from law enforcement while protesting the December mistrial of officer William Porter. Kwame Rose’s appeal begins today.
But I want to start here in Cleveland. Last night, the Republican National Convention, one of the opening speakers was Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who spoke about the recent police killings of African-American men, as well as the verdict in the Lieutenant Brian Rice trial.
SHERIFF DAVID CLARKE: There is some good news out of Baltimore, Maryland, as Lieutenant Brian Rice was acquitted on all charges. … What we witnessed in Ferguson and Baltimore and Baton Rouge was a collapse of the social order. So many of the actions of the Occupy movement and Black Lives Matter transcends peaceful protest and violates the code of conduct we rely on. I call it anarchy.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that was at last night’s convention. Today, we’re joined by Sheryl Wood and Kwame Rose.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Sheryl Wood, let’s begin with you. Your response to the verdict and also to what Sheriff David Clarke said at the Republican convention here in Cleveland?
SHERYL WOOD: Well, first, with regard to the verdict, I was not surprised. I did predict an acquittal of all charges. And that’s only because the prosecution has not been able to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge has really laid out, really without any emotion, just looking at the elements of each of the crimes that these officers have been charged with, and showing how the state has not been able to present evidence, that they met that. They’ve—just violating a general order not to wear a seat belt is not a criminal act, so they have to show something more about their conduct. They haven’t been able to do that.
As far as the sheriff goes, I mean, that’s unfortunate that they’re really using everything that’s happening across our country to blame Black Lives Matter. And I don’t agree with that at all. It’s really unfortunate that that’s happening and that these trials are being used to attack Black Lives Matter.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Kwame Rose, I mean, interestingly, your trial, the verdict at the same time as the case of Lieutenant Brian Rice—he was acquitted. You, on the other hand, were convicted of failing to obey an order from law enforcement during a protest last year around the case of Freddie Gray, the first officer charged, William Porter, when a jury failed to convict him. Your thoughts on the verdict and also your own case?
KWAME ROSE: Well, you know, my thoughts on the verdict, it’s completely evident at this point that Marilyn Mosby charged these six officers only to stop protest. And what powers that be in Baltimore City feared was unrest that will continue to happen if they did not charge. So this was a crowd control. That’s what this measure was. So, I’m not surprised that Officer Rice was let off. I won’t be surprised if not one officer is convicted of one count, because it’s not illegal to kill black people in America. And that’s what we’re trying to change, and that’s what people are advocating and fighting for.
And although I can’t comment directly on my case, because it’s open in court today, I will say that even over the weekend at Artscape, which is a large arts festival in Baltimore City, 65 protesters were arrested. So I will say that the police response to black people and our allies gathering in the streets to demand that the living conditions of black people and community relations with black people improve, that has not become a reality in Baltimore.
AMY GOODMAN: Sheryl Wood, you’re a former federal prosecutor. What about what Kwame Rose just said? I mean, when Marilyn Mosby, the state’s attorney, came out and said she was charging six officers, I think it rocked the nation, as she reassured people who had taken to the streets. She said that justice would be done, that people, especially young people, should have faith. And she said something like, "Our time has come," she, herself, a young prosecutor. What do you think of how these cases have been conducted, one acquittal after another?
SHERYL WOOD: Well, I think that I agree with Kwame that the charges were rushed, for whatever reason. I believe that 13 days from the day that Mr. Gray died is insufficient time for a prosecutor to investigate the case and decide what charges to bring, and decide really who to give immunity to, who not to charge, because police cases are very difficult to prosecute. They are. I mean, we’ve learned that across the country. So you want to bring forth the best case. I don’t think it’s good for our community to bring charges where you’re not certain you can get a conviction—I mean, not 100 percent certain, but not certain enough to get a conviction. And now we have to go through acquittal after acquittal. That’s no good for our society and our community, either. I think people are looking for someone to blame. A lot of people are blaming the judge for what has happened, as opposed to looking at the fact that the charges were brought quickly, that the evidence has been insufficient, and the judge can’t just find them guilty because of what we’re concerned about within our society. He has to be able to hear the evidence to find them guilty. I agree with the verdicts that the judge has rendered, but I certainly am concerned with the process and the lack of time to investigate. There could have been a speech made on May 1st saying, "I’m going to fully investigate these cases, and, if appropriate, I’m going to bring charges." And that would have given her some time and her team some time to really put together cases where they might be able to get a conviction.
AMY GOODMAN: Kwame Rose, can you describe what you did back in December, what your protest was about, and why ultimately you were convicted yesterday and have to pay a $500 fine, though you have appealed this case? And that case opens—that trial opens today.
KWAME ROSE: Yeah, without going into too much detail, I will say that in December, I, along with several other individuals, had gathered during the trial of William Porter. And I did nothing more than exercise my First Amendment right to gather in peaceful protest and demonstration and assembly outside of the courthouse, to let it be known that we were continuing to gather peacefully to demand that justice, and let it be known to the law enforcement, to Maryland State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, let them know that the citizens of Baltimore want justice, and we are demanding it peacefully, by peacefully demonstrating and exercising our constitutional rights.
AMY GOODMAN: How do you think this country can move forward? I’m speaking to you from Cleveland, where Tamir Rice was killed by police officers just two years ago. The officers in that case of the 12-year-old boy who had a toy gun in a park were not charged.
KWAME ROSE: And, you know, I think that this country will move forward only if we, as individuals—right? We see that it won’t come inside of a courtroom. Justice won’t be served there. But justice will only become a reality when we, as individuals, stop making excuses for problems that are hundreds of years old, right? We see with Sheriff Clarke’s comments, as he’s being used as a puppet to further hate of black bodies and to perpetuate this myth that people are—Black Lives Matter is out to kill police officers. We have to admit that there’s a problem. Philando Castile was a law-abiding citizen who had a permit to carry a weapon, and he was killed—
AMY GOODMAN: We have five seconds.
KWAME ROSE: —by law enforcement because he was a black man. So, I think that we have to have conversations as individuals.
AMY GOODMAN: Kwame Rose and former federal prosecutor Sheryl Wood, I want to thank you for being with us. That does it for our broadcast. Special thanks to the Denver Open Media crew, to Denis Moynihan, Sam Alcoff, Mike Burke, Carla Wills, Laura Gottesdiener. I’m Amy Goodman, from Cleveland, Ohio. Thanks for joining us. ... Read More →
RNC Descends into Chaos as "Never Trump" Movement Attempts Revolt on Convention Floor
Thousands of Republican Party delegates are here in Cleveland, Ohio, for the 2016 Republican National Convention, where the party is expected to formally nominate Donald Trump as the party’s presidential nominee. But not all delegates are happy about Donald Trump, and on Monday the RNC briefly descended into chaos as members of the Never Trump movement launched a revolt by demanding for a roll call vote—a lengthy process that would allow every state to have their vote count. However, when the time came to present the proposed rules to the full convention, the Trump campaign and Republican Party leadership quashed the rebellious faction by instead opting for a voice vote—quickly declaring the opponents lacked enough votes. Pandemonium erupted on the floor, with shouts for a roll call vote being drowned out by Trump supporters chanting "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" Democracy Now!’s Deena Guzder filed this report.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Yes, we are "Breaking with Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency." We’re here in Cleveland, Ohio, covering the Republican National Convention, inside and out, from the streets to the suites to the convention floor.
On Monday afternoon, the RNC briefly erupted in chaos when some opponents of presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump stormed off the convention floor and others chanted in protest at their failure to win a symbolic vote opposing Trump’s candidacy. The high-profile floor fight pitted the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee leadership against a faction of delegates from the Never Trump movement, shattering any notion of a unified Republican Party. The anti-Trump forces wanted to change the party’s nominating rules to allow delegates to support alternative Republican candidates over Trump. They rattled the Trump campaign and Republican leadership by producing signatures from a majority of delegates from 11 states and territories, far more than the seven jurisdictions needed to force an up-or-down vote on the convention’s rules package.
The delegates said the signatures qualified them for a roll call vote, a lengthy process that would allow every state to have their vote count. However, when the time came to present the proposed rules to the full convention, the Trump campaign and Republican Party leadership squashed the rebellious faction by instead opting for a voice vote, quickly declaring the opponents lacked enough votes. Pandemonium erupted on the floor, with shouts for a roll call vote being drowned out by Trump supporters chanting "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" While Trump’s detractors acknowledge they were unlikely to be able to vote down the rules, they say they were seeking a roll call vote to register their dissent over a Trump candidacy.
Democracy Now!’s Deena Guzder filed this report.
DANE WATERS: My name is Dane Waters. I’m co-founder of Delegates Unbound. I’m hopeful that the RNC will follow the rules, like we follow the rules, and that the delegates will have the opportunity to vote their conscience. I mean, what’s lost in a lot of this is who these delegates are. These delegates are everyday people, like Lori Hack from Arizona, mother of three, who’s coming here for the very first time. I mean, so most people aren’t used to the type of intimidation that takes place. You know, we’re hopeful that the Trump campaign will respect the delegates and not put too much pressure on them, but we’ve heard reports over and over again about the intimidation and the pressure. And we’ll just see what happens. I mean, there are a lot of delegates out there who have been—who have pushed back on this, that are trying to show that they should be strong and push back. But, I mean, it’s a tough thing. I mean, this intimidation of these delegates has been ongoing and relentless.
But the next thing that has to happen is that, at the beginning of the rules report, then several of the delegations have to stand up and say, "We make the following motion, because we submitted so many signatures from so many states, that there should be a roll call vote." Now, they could gloss over that. They can ignore those individuals. So that’s the next interesting thing, whether they turn the microphones off or not. Now, they could—you know, I have no doubt in my mind that they’re going to try to say that there’s something wrong with the signatures, something wrong with the forms. And here’s the thing. So many people signed that petition in the last 24 hours. This goes back to the overall theme, is that they’re trying to keep the delegates silenced. Well, it’s a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and the heart and soul of this country. If Donald Trump has the support he says he does and he wants to unify this party, the he just needs to say, "Hey, you know, vote freely for me."
DELEGATES: Roll call vote! Roll call vote! Roll call vote!
SEAN IRELAND: My name’s Sean Ireland. I’m a delegate from Texas. And right now we’re trying to force a roll call vote on the rules.
ANTHONY SCANNAPIECO: My name is Anthony Scannapieco. I’m a delegate to the convention from Putnam County, New York.
DEENA GUZDER: What do you think about the delegates who are calling for a roll call vote right now?
ANTHONY SCANNAPIECO: It’s not going to happen. Rules were adopted. It’s not going to happen.
DEENA GUZDER: Mr. Lewandowski, Mr. Lewandowski, what happened right now with the roll call vote?
COREY LEWANDOWSKI: There is no roll call vote. The rules were up and down. It’s all done.
REP. STEVE WOMACK: Those in favor of the rules package will say "aye."
DELEGATES: Aye!
REP. STEVE WOMACK: Those opposed shall say "no."
DELEGATES: No!
REP. STEVE WOMACK: In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
DELEGATE: Point of order, Mr. Chair!
DELEGATES: Roll call vote! Roll call vote! Roll call vote! Roll call vote! Roll call vote! Roll call vote! Roll call vote! Roll call vote! Roll call vote! Roll call vote! Roll call vote! Roll call vote!
DELEGATE: Point of order!
REP. STEVE WOMACK: Is anybody seeking recognition?
DELEGATE: Yes!
DELEGATE: Point of order, Mr. Chairman! Point of order!
DELEGATE: Recognition! Right here!
DELEGATE: Right here!
DELEGATE: Point of order.
ANN EUBANK: Vote! Vote!
DEENA GUZDER: What is your name, and where are you a delegate from?
ANN EUBANK: Alabama. My name is Ann Eubank. They want to approve the rules without a vote. The state of Alabama is not unanimous. The Cruz people do not want the rules. We want to vote no, because there’s four or five in there that gives the RNC the power top down, and the Trump people and the RNC want the rule package as it stands.
DEENA GUZDER: Why do you feel it’s important that there is a roll call vote at this moment? There seems to be a lot of people chanting "U.S.A.!" and in support of Trump.
ANN EUBANK: Because that’s what Trump does. He’s a bully. He overrules everything that is against what he wants specifically. And we, the Cruz people, want a voice.
REP. STEVE WOMACK: The chair recognizes the delegate from Utah.
PHIL WRIGHT: My name is Phil Wright. I am the chair of the Utah delegation. I make a motion that we have a roll call vote on the rules.
DELEGATE: I second the motion!
REP. STEVE WOMACK: The secretary received request from a total of nine states requesting a roll call vote on adoption of a report on the Committee on Rules. Subsequently, the secretary received withdrawals, which caused three states to fall below the threshold required under the rules. Accordingly—accordingly, the chair has found insufficient support for the request for a record vote.
SCOTT HAWKINS: My name is Scott Hawkins, and I’m with the Utah delegation.
DEENA GUZDER: And what just happened here on the floor?
SCOTT HAWKINS: We were just cheated out of our right to vote.
DEENA GUZDER: Why do you think that they wouldn’t allow a vote to happen, the RNC heads allow a vote to happen?
SCOTT HAWKINS: Because the RNC has obviously made a deal with Trump. They feel that they can control Trump and make deals with him. The RNC is kind of like the party of crony capitalism, and we’re more like free market capitalism, the real thing.
DEENA GUZDER: Which candidate did you support before Donald Trump came on the scene?
SCOTT HAWKINS: Ted Cruz.
DEENA GUZDER: If Donald Trump becomes the party’s official nominee, will you support him?
SCOTT HAWKINS: I’ll have to see. I haven’t made up my mind about that yet.
DEENA GUZDER: What are some of your concerns about Donald Trump?
SCOTT HAWKINS: I know that the party is encouraging people to support whoever the nominee is, but I find Trump so repulsive, it may be difficult for me.
DEENA GUZDER: What about him do you find so repulsive?
SCOTT HAWKINS: His divisiveness, the way he—well, he makes fun of people who are—who have disabilities. He makes fun of people who—of different colors. So he has a bigoted—he has bigoted attitudes. That’s not the party. That’s not the Republican Party.
AMY GOODMAN: That was from the first night, the opening of the Republican National Convention here in Cleveland, Ohio. Special thanks to Democracy Now!’s Deena Guzder, Elizabeth Press and Sam Alcoff. This is Democracy Now! When we come back, a debate between two of the Republican delegates, one for Donald Trump and one against. Stay with us. ... Read More →
Bassem Youssef, "The Jon Stewart of Egypt," Moves to U.S. & Begins Satirizing Election Season
Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef joins us in Cleveland, where he too is covering the Republican convention. His former show was known as "The Daily Show" of the Arab world for its satire of politics in Egypt and the Middle East. The program "El Bernameg" was launched after former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power in the 2011 uprising. It became the most popular TV series in Egypt’s history, with as many as 30 million views per episode. During Mohamed Morsi’s presidency, "El Bernameg" came under increasing pressure, and in 2013 an arrest warrant was issued for Youssef for allegedly insulting Islam and Morsi. Youssef was interrogated and subsequently released on bail, but the pressure continued under the next regime, and in 2014 he announced he was taking the program off the air, just days after General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was elected president. Once he could no longer make fun of Egyptian politics, he moved to the U.S. to satirize American politics. His new show, "Democracy Handbook," airs on Fusion.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Yes, this is "Breaking with Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency." I’m Amy Goodman. We’re broadcasting from the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Next week, we’ll be in Philadelphia for the week. Both weeks, we’ve expanded our broadcast to two hours every day.
We’re joined right now by a man described as "the Jon Stewart of Egypt." Maybe Jon Stewart is the Bassem Youssef of the United States. Who knows? But this is Bassem Youssef. His show was known as "The Daily Show" of the Arab world for its satire of politics in Egypt and the Middle East. The program was launched after former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power in the 2011 uprising. It became the most popular TV series in Egypt’s history, with as many as 30 million views per episode.
During Mohamed Morsi’s presidency, the program came under increasing pressure, and in 2013 an arrest warrant was issued for Youssef for allegedly insulting Islam and Morsi. Youssef was interrogated and subsequently released on bail, but the pressure continued under the next regime, and in 2014 Bassem Youssef announced he was taking the program off the air, just days after General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was elected president. Bassem Youssef has now started a new comedy program, but it focuses on the United States. In the opening to the show, Democracy Handbook, Youssef explains why he left Egypt.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: As-salamu alaykum, everyone. My name is Bassem Youssef. In my native Egypt, I was a surgeon, until the Arab Spring, when I realized my country itself had fallen ill. So I created a comedy show to help the nation heal. The people liked it, but the government, not so much. And before things got worse, I left for the land of the free. Now I can learn from the best. After all, this is the United States of America, the greatest democracy on Earth. Right?
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we are joined by Bassem Youssef. His new show, Democracy Handbook, airs on Fusion.
Welcome to Democracy Now! It’s great to see you.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: I’m very happy to be here.
AMY GOODMAN: So, a doctor—a cardiologist turned comedian?
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Cardiac surgeon.
AMY GOODMAN: Cardiac surgeon.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Yes. And I was actually to be here in Cleveland, if everything went as planned, because I was accepted into a pediatric heart surgery fellowship six years ago. And the revolution happened, I did my show, and I never came.
AMY GOODMAN: And talk about that show and what happened to it.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Oh, my show in Egypt? Well, you know, it started on the internet and went into a small TV show, then went into a full-blown live—live show on theater. And then I had trouble with both regimes, under the Islamists or the military government. And—
AMY GOODMAN: What do you think of General Sisi, of President Sisi?
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Oh, he’s the most democratic president in the history of Egypt, of course. I mean, unprecedented democracy, unprecedented liberties, as he always described Egypt. And this is why we have so many people who had their shows canceled, they’re either living in exile or in prison. Maybe he has a different version of liberty and freedom. But I’m sure he’s enjoying it.
AMY GOODMAN: Why did you feel you had to leave Egypt?
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Well, there was increasing pressure on everyone. And there was this case between me and my—the previous channel who canceled the show. And suddenly we were hit by an arbitration verdict, whose—which was totally unfair and was totally politicized. And I found myself like owing them 100 million pounds, although they are the one who shut down the show. And, of course, the thing is, in the Middle East, they will never come after you because of—because of like your freedom of speech. They’ll find something else, you know, like getting Al Capone for taxes. So, what happened was that, like, I know that, like, the clock was ticking, and I would be soon put on either like a no-fly list or maybe even more. And when I left, I—looking back, this is actually what happened to so many people who had problems leaving the country, coming into the country. And I didn’t just want to be under the mercy of somebody telling me that you can’t leave.
AMY GOODMAN: So, what are you doing here at the RNC?
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Well, first of all, we had—I’m having a relationship now with Fusion, where—with the Democracy Handbook being released. And then—
AMY GOODMAN: And explain what Fusion is.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Fusion is a TV channel, part of Univision and ABC. And they—they are now—I think they like what I did with Democracy Handbook, and they want me to cover the RNC as the "Arab correspondent."
AMY GOODMAN: So, let’s go to an excerpt of Democracy Handbook. In this episode, Bassem talks to Donald Trump supporters in Georgia.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 1: I believe that he loves America.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 2: Well, he’s definitely energetic. He’s electric.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 3: I think that you can depend on what he tells you, that he’ll do what he tells you.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 4: Trump, 100 percent.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 5: He’s a loudmouth, and I think we need that.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 6: Yeah!
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Do you understand exactly how is he going to make America great again?
TRUMP SUPPORTER 7: Uh, I might not understand fully, but I like what I do hear for the most part. So—
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Like what?
TRUMP SUPPORTER 7: I mean, he’s—he’s literally saying he’s going to make America great again.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: And you like that?
TRUMP SUPPORTER 7: I love that.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 8: I think he can help get this country back on the financial road.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: So, do you think that he’s successful financially?
TRUMP SUPPORTER 8: Yes, very much so.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Tell us some of his successful businesses.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 8: I cannot. I just know that every businessman fails, goes bankrupt, like several times.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: He doesn’t answer to anybody.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 9: That’s right.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: He doesn’t obey anybody.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 9: That’s right.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Nobody can hold him accountable.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 9: That’s right.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Yeah? That’s amazing.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 10: I like Donald Trump because he is a very intelligent person.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: What has he done or said that made you think that he’s smart?
TRUMP SUPPORTER 10: Well, I watched him on The Apprentice.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 8: Yes.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 10: Yes, I am.
TRUMP SUPPORTER 8: Yes.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: That’s crazy.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that is Bassem Youssef talking to Trump supporters in Georgia. Talk about that experience.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Well, when I went there, I mean, people, of course, were mesmerized by Donald Trump, Donald Trump’s appearance. But I find it is the same echo chamber that we find—that I find in the Middle East. You know, people are just like repeating the same sound bites without even thinking it through. When somebody tells me, "We want to make the military great again," and in the same exact sentence tells me, "We need to reduce federal spending," I don’t know how is—how is that possible? And when he tells me, like, "We need to make America great—the military great again," I tell him, "How many more countries do you want to invade?" It is just like—it doesn’t make sense. And I remember—I think one of the most memorable moments for me, when the—I think it was the governor or the mayor, the guy who appeared before Donald Trump, and he said—he was talking to the crowd. It was like, "If he—if Donald Trump didn’t do anything other than building the wall, would you still vote for him?" And it was like, "Yeah!"
So, this is the whole—this is a whole campaign based on fear and xenophobia. It doesn’t matter. Do you think like—so, when I see like the news cycles going and saying, "Oh, look, Donald Trump said this, Donald Trump said that, his wife plagiarized this, plagiarized that," do you think it does—it makes any difference in these supporters? No. I mean, if he said, "I have absolutely no—no plan. I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with the economy, with foreign policy," it doesn’t make any difference. I mean, we had a—we had the president who said, like, "I have no—no plan for anything, and I’m just going to be president." It’s like, "Yeah, go, because of—because of Egypt, because of every"—it’s the same thing. It’s the same exact thing. People are just voting out of emotions. People voting are just out of fear, and that’s it.
AMY GOODMAN: Let’s go to another clip from Democracy Handbook. In this episode, Bassem Youssef visits a Muslim-free gun store.
ANDY HALLINAN: I declared Florida Gun Supply a Muslim-free zone as a direct response to political correctness.
I’m Andy with Florida Gun Supply, and if you want to make your home safe from ISIS, all you need is one of our Muslim-free zone signs.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: So, what’s the best thing about being Muslim-free?
ANDY HALLINAN: We sold a bunch of really great stuff. For instance, we came up with our bumper stickers. It says, "Warning: This car is a MFZ." Now, we didn’t necessarily want to spell out "Muslim-free zone," because that would be car bomb territory. Right?
BASSEM YOUSSEF: That would be the only reason, yeah.
ANDY HALLINAN: And we produced our ISIS hunting permits, that says no tagging required, no bagging limit.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: That’s so funny.
ANDY HALLINAN: We worked with a company to create the Mohammed targets, realistic-looking jihadis. But we taped the San Bernardino shooters’ faces on them, and they started selling even better.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: There’s a Mohammed target for $3. Mohammed with crotch shot.
ANDY HALLINAN: For five bucks, yeah.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Let’s face it: Hate sells.
AMY GOODMAN: So, we’re going to continue on the theme of guns with Bassem Youssef. In this episode, Bassem visits a gun show in Florida.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: As long as you’re of age, you’ve never done more than one year in jail, you’re not deemed crazy or drunk at the time of purchase, getting a gun in America is a breeze, especially at gun shows, which happen every weekend everywhere in America, with stuff for the whole family—moms, kinky moms, babies, hyperactive preteens, and even something for your anti-Semitic uncle. How many guns do you have?
GUN OWNER 1: I have eight.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Eight guns.
GUN OWNER 2: I have a [bleep] ton of guns. I spend all my UFC money on guns.
GUN OWNER 3: I have one 22 and 20-gauge.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Americans bought over 1.7 million guns in September 2015 alone. But why? What do you use your guns for?
GUN OWNER 4: Oh, mainly just target shooting.
GUN OWNER 3: I’m a hunter.
GUN OWNER 1: Personal defense.
GUN OWNER 2: It’s about having the right to protect yourself against another human being or animal.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Yeah.
GUN OWNER 2: Or like crazy bears that come at you and stuff like that. Like, it’s all legal.
AMY GOODMAN: And we can’t stop. We want to continue with the Democray Handbook. This one is Bassem Youssef in Flint, Michigan, speaking with Beulah Walker of the Detroit Water Brigade, asking if the water crisis is a way to stop immigrants from coming to the city.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Well, let’s talk about the problems that Flint has. It has unemployment, crime, water crisis. Does it have illegal immigration problem?
BEULAH WALKER: No, it does not.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: So, people don’t want to immigrate to Flint?
BEULAH WALKER: No, no one wants to. I wouldn’t.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Do you think this is a kind of a silver lining, keeping people out? Where I come from, we’re just much more straightforward. We just like go and bomb the whole city down.
BEULAH WALKER: That’s horrible.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Yeah. It’s faster.
AMY GOODMAN: That is an excerpt of Democracy Handbook. So, what you’re doing with the series—you’re traveling around the country.
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Yes. And the thing is, I try to find out some of the topics that could resonate in both worlds. So, for example, when you talk about religion, this is supposed to be a secular country with total separation between church and state. Back in the Middle East, we are being criticized that we have religion interfering in everything. Here, it seems that it’s also—it’s interfering in everything, but it’s OK, because it seems to be the right religion. When you have like the next vice president identifying himself as Christian first before everything, that goes against the Constitution and all of the secularism and all of the separation between state and church.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, you certainly know when both go together, in 2013 accused of insulting then-President Mohamed Morsi and insulting Islam, a warrant issued for your arrest. You turned yourself in, were questioned for six hours, before being released on bail. A blast from the past now. The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart sent a message to Morsi following your detention.
JON STEWART: So, Bassem Youssef pokes fun of your hat and your lack of promised democratic reforms. What are you worried about? You’re the president of Egypt. You have an army. He’s got puns and a show. You have tanks and planes. We should know: We still have the receipts. Look, silencing a comedian doesn’t qualify you to be president of Egypt, just president of NBC. I mean, wooh! And I got to tell you something, talk about a once-proud empire.
AMY GOODMAN: There you have it, Jon Stewart, when he was doing The Daily Show, talking about the Jon Stewart of Egypt, Bassem Youssef, who’s come to this country to talk about, well, democracy there, where he comes from in Egypt, and democracy here. And what is your conclusion?
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Well, my conclusion is that you still have a great democratic process here. I mean, but my show is just—can serve as a warning to tell you that, you know, there are certain practices that’s happening here that’s not far off of what I’ve seen in my part of the world. The xenophobia, the racism, the ignorance and the hate is basically increasing everywhere, not just in the United States. It’s like—I think it’s kind of like the extreme right-wing mentality is winning crowned every day, out of fear, and it’s scary. It’s kind of like I’m telling people, "Guys, we’re the prequel. Don’t do that."
AMY GOODMAN: And what do you think about the grassroots movements that are pushing back—I mean, every day, from Black Lives Matter to Occupy?
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Well, these are great movements. The problem is that they are up against huge corporations, institutions and entities that basically are turning this democracy into an oligarchy. And they are underfunded. They are undersupported. And I wish they—they are gaining traction, but I hope they can be up against those humongous, very powerful institutions. It’s an uphill fight, and it’s not—it’s not easy. But at the end of the day, you guys kind of stood against the British Empire, so, who knows?
AMY GOODMAN: And Egypt, where it is now?
BASSEM YOUSSEF: Well, I will say it’s like a George Orwellian 1984 novel, but it’s not even well written.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Bassem Youssef, I thank you for being with us, Egyptian comedian, satirist, known as "the Jon Stewart of Egypt," his show known as "The Daily Show" of the Arab world. Once he could no longer make fun of Egyptian politics, he moved to the U.S. to satirize American politics. His new show, Democracy Handbook, airs on Fusion, and you can see it on YouTube, as well.
Special thanks to all the folks at Denver Open Media and our team here at Democracy Now!, to Denis Moynihan and John Hamilton and Sam Alcoff and Laura Gottesdiener, to Deena Guzder and Nermeen Shaikh, as well as Robby Karran and Hany Massoud. Thank you so much to all those that are making this broadcast possible. Thank you, as well, to Carla Wills. I’m Amy Goodman. Go to our website at democracynow.org for both hours of Democracy Now! here at the Republican convention and then again at the Democratic convention next week. ... Read More →
Prophets of Rage: Chuck D, Tom Morello Headline "End Poverty" March Against Trump at RNC
As the Republican National Convention began on Monday, thousands rallied outside to protest Donald Trump’s candidacy. In the largest protest of the day thousands took part in the "End Poverty Now, March for Economic Justice." Democracy Now! spoke with activists and organizers who took to the streets after a concert by Prophets of Rage, a new project of Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Our special expanded two-hour daily broadcast for this week in Cleveland at the Republican National Convention and next week in Philadelphia at the Democratic Convention. Well, yes, we are covering both conventions inside and out from the streets to the corporate suites to the convention floors. As the RNC began here on Monday, thousands rallied outside to protest Donald Trump’s candidacy. In the largest protest of the day, thousands took part in the End Poverty Now March for Economic Justice. The march began after a concert by Prophets of Rage, a new project of Public Enemy’s Chuck D. and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. After the concert, Democracy Now!’s Mike Burke spoke to march participants, beginning with the musician, Tom Morello.
TOM MORELLO: We are Prophets of Rage, and we have come here to confront the racist, misogynist, imperialist policies of the RNC and provide a counter voice to what they’re saying inside the convention center. We’re saying something very different out here on the streets. We’re not here to give Donald Trump a message. We’re here to, to, to put wind in the sails of the people who are standing against his message.
PROTESTER 1: [inaudible]
CROWD: [inaudible]
PROTESTER 1: No justice!
CROWD: No peace!
PROTESTER 1: No justice!
CROWD: No peace!
CONNIE BURTON: My name is Connie Burton, and I’m from Tampa, Florida. I’m here representing Black People Advancement and Defense Organization. The reason why we are here is because we want to expose the contradiction that, for the last 50 plus years, we have been dealing with the issue of poverty and all we see is people on the top getting rich and fat, while the people at the bottom, they’re poor and oppressed, continuing the same cycle for the last 50 years.
MIKE BURKE: And what is your message to Donald Trump?
CONNIE BURTON: Well, it’s not gonna be the America that he think when he say he want his America back. We hear those as cold messages that reeks with white supremacy. And if he think that the Africans are going to live peaceful on the plantation, with this America, he has another thought coming. We don’t feel any better under Hillary Clinton, and so we plan on being disruptive from the first day, whoever is elected to office. It’s not going to be any peace for them as well.
LUKE NEPHEW: [singing] The walls that they build to tear us apart will never be as strong as the walls of our hearts. The walls that they build to tear us part will never be as strong as the walls of our hearts.
BALDEMAR VELASQUEZ: Baldemar Velasquez, President of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO. And we’re here telling the Republican National Committee that we want a fair day’s pay for a fair day of work. That’s all we want.
MIKE BURKE: And what is your assessment of Donald Trump?
BALDEMAR VELASQUEZ: It’s going to be very interesting to see if he’s going to live up to his big words about surrounding — how he operates his own businesses. I mean, he is one of the greatest outsourcers there is, and he’s talking all this nationalistic trade stuff. I wonder how it’s gonna apply to his own personal business. So that’s going to be a very interesting challenge for him.
MIKE BURKE: If you had a chance to meet with them, what would you tell him?
BALDEMAR VELASQUEZ: I would say, give me a specific plan how you’re gonna make good at ending all these global corporations and their, and their international supply chains that marginalize people here in the U.S. and in the countries where they operate.
NOZOMI IKUTA: My name is Nozomi Ikuta and I’m a local church pastor for the Denison Avenue United Church of Christ. What’s going on in our country is really all about division, and people have to come together, learn how to understand each other, learn how each of us has to give a little bit to have a better understanding of people who’ve had different experiences and backgrounds.
MIKE BURKE: If you had a chance to speak to Donald Trump, what would you tell them?
NOZOMI IKUTA: Well, I’m a Christian. Right? And so, what was Jesus about? About love, about respect, about treating your neighbor how you want to be treated. Right? And that’s not what I’m hearing. He can say whatever he wants about almost any group that he’s assuming are not gonna vote for him; black people, Muslims, women, gay people. And is that how you build community? Is that how — is that the kind of society we want? We want a society where everybody has a place, and a opportunity to raise their families with some decency and dignity.
ROD STARZ: My name is Rod Starz.
G1: And my name is G1.
ROD STARZ: And, together, we’re Rebel Diaz.
MIKE BURKE: Why are you out here in the streets of Cleveland?
ROD STARZ: We out here in the streets of Cleveland fighting against the fascist, otherwise known as Donald Trump. He’s a racist and it’s a problem for this country that he’s even the candidate. A lot of folks thought it was a joke, that it was part of a reality show gone wrong, but the reality is that the reality show gone wrong is the current state of the U.S., and America. So, we here demanding, you know what I’m saying, freedom for our people, just as for all those murdered by police, and at the same time saying dump Trump and his racist, fascist ways. We’re immigrants, so we stand up for the immigrant community as well.
MIKE BURKE: Now I know that you just performed at the concert, I was wondering if you could share a couple verses with our audience right now.
ROD STARZ: You wanna do something?
G1: [rapping] See before I draw the line let me welcome you close. To all the folks who knew Obama sold the people our hopes. Sold the suckers from communities, want us poor. But you know we back at it, ready for war, here at RNC. Please ROD and G back at it. Ready to burn. What up?
ROD STARZ: [rapping] Ready to run. Share with Democracy Now! I’m gonna show you all how we do this right now. We out on these streets, rocking to no beats. It’s a cappella. Old school N.W.A. like D.J. Yella. We just seen B-Real and Prophets of Rage. Man, I was amazed. But best believe we gonna fight against trump. Trump gonna get dumped like a bad date. Freestyle rockstars, you know that we great. I inspire the youth, every time I rock with these Iraqi troops, Veterans Against War. What I got in store. I got ill metaphors. We gotta knock down all the walls. Freestyle rockstars, ’cause you know we smoke, we like Bob Marls. Peace.
GARRETT RAPENHAGEN: I’m with Iraq Veterans Against the War and Vets Versus Hate. I’m out here because, you know, trump doesn’t know service. He doesn’t know military service, he doesn’t know community service. The only person he’s ever served is himself. You know, and I think he’s trying to make himself great again, not America. And I served this country, and I’ve been lied to, and I’ve [been] betrayed, and I’m here, basically, using my First Amendment right, a right that I fought for. And, you know, I’m going to express that to say that Trump is not an option for the United States. He’s a racist. He’s making our country less safe. He’s increasing domestic violence. He’s destroying our national security. That’s not what I fought for.
MIKE BURKE: If you had a chance to speak to Donald Trump, what would you, what would you tell him?
GARRETT RAPENHAGEN: I would tell him that he should end his race. That he’s not our candidate, that we don’t want him as Americans. That he’s only going to destroy everything that that we’ve worked to build, and he’ll erode our country, not make it great.
MIKE BURKE: And what is — can you talk a little more about Vets — is it Vets Against Hate?
GARRETT RAPENHAGEN: Yeah, Vets Versus Hate is a bunch of veterans that just, kind of, started around a hashtag, realizing that Trump’s racist speech didn’t, didn’t really represent our values as American Veterans, that we served alongside Muslim Americans, we served along side Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, we served along Mexican-Americans, we served along all sorts of people. The military is a very diverse place and we work with coalitions all across the world to get our job done. And, you know, he’s destroying that every time he opens his mouth with a racist statement using hate speech, it destroys that. So, we gather, basically, as a group of veterans that, kind of, have that common cause and common mission to oppose what he is saying.
MIKE BURKE: Can you tell us your name, the group you’re with, and why you’re out on the streets today?
ANNIE KROL: Absolutely, my name is Annie Krol. I am the northern Ohio organizer with NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio. We are the state-wide affiliate of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Abortion Rights Action League. So, we are the state level advocate ensuring that abortion stays safe and legal in Ohio for all its residents. We’re here specifically for the End Poverty Now March, because we want to push onto to the platform of the End Poverty Now March, that, without full spectrum access to abortion care and reproductive health services, you cannot eliminate poverty.
PROTESTER 2: [singing] There’s no hiding place down here. I went to the rock to hide my face. The rock cried out no hiding place.
CHUCK D.: Chuck D., number one, Prophets of Rage. Here in the streets of Cleveland, black lives matter, because, black lives — people have seen in history, black lives —- his—- all the way up to, damn near, Baton Rouge and Minnesota, black lives didn’t matter, especially with acquittals. I was talking a second ago with this gentleman that — you know, we understand, overstand when the flags are at half mast, but, in this city, the flags should have been at half mast for Tamir Rice, and all the people that got killed from brutality.
MIKE BURKE: What is your assessment of Donald Trump?
CHUCK D.: He is the most inappropriate person ever to think that he can actually run a country. I’m like, how come this dude doesn’t just decide to run a town or a city first? Start from f——-g there. What is I want to be at the top of the pile. That’s the arrogance of businessmen. I gotta be the top kahuna or nothing else. So, that arrogance is what gets me about the Donald Trump. The ain’t no f——-g TV show. They ain’t gonna print this, OK, you’re a boss here. I can run America like a corporation. I’m like, dude, man. It’s, uh, you know what it is? Disrespectful to think that somebody could come from left field and do the job of a person who holds public office just because they feel like it. Gotta do the work. Gotta do the work.
LUKE NEPHEW: Peace, my name is Luke nephew of the Peace Poets. I’m here with Witness Against Torture and with my crew the Peace Poets. And we’re here in Cleveland to support the good people of Cleveland who we know are about justice.
MIKE BURKE: What are your thoughts about Donald Trump? Especially his call to, you know, to bring back water-boarding and what he says, even more.
LUKE NEPHEW: Yeah, I think it’s really important to recognize that Donald Trump said the words "torture works." And it’s profoundly ignorant of the truth, as well as in contrast to the United States military that told their infantry for decades and decades never to torture a prisoner because the intelligence you get from torture will never, ever be correct, reliable, or anything that they can use. That’s the United States military. I was in a Senate hearing where I heard a United States general in Iraq say the presence of Guantanamo, and the torture of prisoners in Guantánamo made U.S. soldiers and citizens less safe. So, he is saying the words that "torture works" and advocating for indefinite detention, for the practices that profile muslims and result in the torture of human beings simply because they’re other, and he’s denying the fact that both psy— that, that professional psychologists and the professional U.— of the U.S. military say that torture does not work.
RYAN HARVEY: Yeah, well, my name is Ryan Harvey. I’m from Baltimore. And well, I’m a musician, I’m an activist, I’ve long been an organizer in the antiwar movement, often working with the Iraq Veterans Against the War. And then, I play music and I also co-own a record label called Firebrand Records that I own with Tom Morello, putting out radical political music.
MIKE BURKE: We just heard you perform at the concert and there was one song really stood out, and it was actually about Donald Trump’s father. Could you talk about that song?
RYAN HARVEY: Yeah, so that song is called "Old Man Trump." And I recorded that a few months ago with Ani DiFranco and with Tom Morello. And that song was written by Woody Guthrie, originally, in the 1950. His landlord was Fred Trump, Donald Trump’s father. And, of course, Fred Trump, believe it or not, was a bigot, a racist, a xenophobe, and a slumlord, all mixed into one, as often is the case. And so, um, yeah, Woody wrote these lyrics about him, but never recorded it. He was getting old. He was starting to die, you know. And at the time, Fred Trump was just a bad landlord, right, and a bigot. And now it’s like, what a relevant — what a relevant name to bring up. So it’s kind of like amazing to be able to sort of like resurrect Woody Guthrie’s voice and add into the current debate about this rising far right, this like fascistic rhetoric that’s coming out of, not just Trump, but Trump’s base. So, it’s like, what’s more American than Donald Trump and Woody Guthrie, you know?
MIKE BURKE: Could you sing a little bit of the song for us?
RYAN HARVEY: So, it’s like —
[singing] I suppose that old man trump knows just how much racial hate he drawed up in that blood pie of fuming hearts when he drawed that color line here at his Beach Haven Family Project.
So, Beach Haven was the name of the apartment —- still there. And Woody was living there. And the second verse goes into sort of, like, what he would do if he ran the apartment and everyone would be welcome and then, you know, the chorus -—
POLICE OFFICER: Hey, you guys [inaudible] moving in.
RYAN HARVEY: Oh, here we go. Um, yeah.
MIKE BURKE: How does it feel to sing a Woody Guthrie song surrounded by, by police?
RYAN HARVEY: I think I’ve done it before, but it always feels relevant, you know.
PROTESTER 3: We want to tell the Republican Party quit bringing that division here. Don’t bring no polarization here. Don’t bring no xenophobia here. Don’t bring no Islamophobia here.
PROTESTER 2: [singing] My liberation is your liberation, and your liberation is my liberation. So, let me and the people say let’s get free, let’s get free, let’s get free.
LUKE NEPHEW: [singing] Let’s get free.
PROTESTER 2: [singing] My liberation is your liberation, and your liberation is —
AMY GOODMAN: Special thanks to Democracy Now!’s Mike Burke Hani Massoud. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. We are Breaking with Convention: War Peace and the Presidency. Back in a minute. ... Read More →
"Never Trump" vs. Unite Behind the Candidate: A Debate on the Future of the Republican Party
On Monday afternoon, the RNC briefly erupted in chaos when some opponents of presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump stormed off the convention floor and others chanted in protest at their failure to win a symbolic vote opposing Trump’s candidacy. The high-profile floor fight pitted the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee leadership against a faction of delegates from the Never Trump movement, shattering any notion of a unified Republican Party. While Trump’s detractors acknowledge they were unlikely to be able to vote down the rules, they say they were seeking a roll call vote to register their dissent over a Trump candidacy. For more, we host a debate. Kendal Unruh is a Colorado delegate at the Republican National Convention and a leader in the national Never Trump movement. Raju Chinthala is an Indiana state delegate who is backing Donald Trump.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, "Breaking with Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency." I’m Amy Goodman. We’re in Cleveland, Ohio, covering the Republican National Convention, inside and out, from the streets to the corporate suites to the convention floor, as we will be next week in Philadelphia at the Democratic convention, our daily hour broadcast expanded to two hours. If you don’t get to see both on your station or listen to, go to democracynow.org. It’s all there—transcript, audio, video.
To talk more about Donald Trump at Monday’s floor fight at the Republican National Convention, we’re joined by two delegates. Kendal Unruh is Colorado delegate at the Republican convention, leader in the national Never Trump movement. Raju Chinthala is an Indiana state delegate who backs Donald Trump.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Well, Kendal Unruh, can you explain what took place, what that chaos and the fight was all about yesterday?
KENDAL UNRUH: Sure. Well, the chaos started on Thursday with the overreach and the power grab that the RNC and the establishment elite, in tandem with Donald Trump now, where they actually made it very evident that they didn’t want any conservative voice or any of the grassroots that are active in the party being active anymore. And they basically set themselves up as king in the authoritarian dictatorship, in essence, because one of the rules that they passed—and they did it without allowing full debate, and they did it without just a fair process—so, what they did was they put all the power into the hands of the RNC, basically silencing the voices of the grassroots delegates. They can make any decision they want, at any given time they want, in between conventions, without anybody weighing in and having a vote. So, in essence, everything that we’re doing as a convention and everything that we’re doing as delegates is basically irrelevant. So, if they’re going to want to mitigate the fact that you have a convention, don’t have a convention. Why bring us into the picture just to be staging as a backdrop for the nomination process?
AMY GOODMAN: Well, explain what the call was for a roll call vote.
KENDAL UNRUH: Sure. Well, the roll call vote was very simple. We wanted to have our votes counted. The very sanctity of a vote being counted is core in the very hearts of every American, as they want their vote to be counted. And so, it was—we had followed the procedure in order to submit the petitions. And the problem is, they then said that three states withdrew. Well, we don’t have access to see if that’s true, because when we were whipping our votes, we had solid votes on there. So, we don’t know if that narrative is true or not. And we are suspecting, based on the history of the RNC, that it’s simply not, because they had a lot at stake, and if we had had a vote on that, then there was—we would have been kicked back to the 2012 rules, the Rules Committee would have had to reconvene, and the rules would have had a different outcome, most likely.
AMY GOODMAN: Which state delegations were calling for the roll call vote?
KENDAL UNRUH: Well, there were 10. So, you had Washington and Idaho and Utah and Colorado and Iowa. Anyway, we submitted 10. And—
AMY GOODMAN: So let me ask Raju Chinthala. You support Donald Trump. You’re from the state of Indiana, where his running mate is from, Governor Pence.
RAJU CHINTHALA: Correct.
AMY GOODMAN: Why didn’t you want this to take place yesterday?
RAJU CHINTHALA: I don’t know. This is my first convention. Most of the time, especially in a large convention like this, going and asking for every vote is difficult. There are so many thousands of people. And in the past, if ever done a roll call, I’m not sure; I don’t know the history of convention. But usually, most of these convention, when they pass the rules, it’s, you know, [inaudible]. And so, they approve those amendments or policies.
KENDAL UNRUH: Well, a roll call vote takes about 15 minutes, because the delegation chairs actually go and individually poll the delegates in their delegation. They submit that to the chair. So, you know, timing, in order to say, well, it would have taken too much time to actually accurately reflect a vote, I don’t buy that. And of course they can do the yeas or the nays. I mean, that’s—but that’s how you railroad a meeting. And going back to 2012, when John Boehner—when the convention erupted in an obvious no, and it was on the teleprompter, "The ayes carry." And he slammed the gavel down, and that was that. That’s how they railroad a meeting. They actually flew in a technology expert in on a private plane to shut the microphones down and manipulate the microphones. So we already anticipated that we would never be recognized. Hence the fact that someone had to go up to the front of the convention in order to make a motion, because all those microphones, once again, were just staging. We had senators and congressmen strategically placed in order to make the motion, and of course they were subsequently ignored, once again proving—and hence the black, because I’m in mourning, because what you saw was—you had Donald Trump with his foot already on the oxygen cord of the conservative movement. And the power grab from Thursday rules going into yesterday, silencing the votes of those who truly wanted a fair and accurate vote count, truly signifies the death of the conservative grassroots movement, because they now have all the power and control. And there’s just simply nothing we can do about it but sit back and smile pretty and be the backdrop for the king that they’re coronating.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, let’s talk about what motivated this. It’s your anger against Donald Trump. You don’t accept him as the Republican presidential nominee. Why?
KENDAL UNRUH: Well, because he’s not a Republican. People say, "Well, would you have done this if anybody else had been the nominee?" And I said I—this is my eighth convention. The last seven, I have fallen in line and went out, and I canvassed my neighborhoods for those nominees. But that’s the key point, because he’s asking now the base to be mobilized for him, to go out and work, when he—we’ve been treated like this. We are the ones who go out, and we knock on our neighbors’ doors, and we lick stamps, and we make those phone calls. That’s how you get elected. So, rather than earn our support with messaging, and work to earn our support and our vote, he did the exact opposite. He has said in the past, "I don’t need conservatives to win. It’s not the conservative party, it’s the Republican Party. And it’s going to be the workers’ party in 10 years." Great. Well, you’ve certainly proven that in your very first course of action that you could take. You said, "You are mitigated now, grassroots. I don’t care about you. I’m not going to listen to you. And if I hear you, I’m going to ignore you."
AMY GOODMAN: Raju Chinthala, what do you like about Donald Trump?
RAJU CHINTHALA: So there’s a process for primary elections. That’s why we have this long, almost a year length of a process, where it starts from Iowa, the elections, and the people will vote for one of the primary. And if the democratic process works and the candidate who puts his strategy into the waters and he gets the majority of the delegates or votes around the states, and, of course, in Indiana, it ended. Out of 13 or 16 candidates, he stood up. He has his own strategies to campaign, take his voice to the American people, so that these people in the primary elections, they vote. And that’s why we have all this process, not just—
AMY GOODMAN: Did you vote for—did you vote for Donald Trump?
RAJU CHINTHALA: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Why do you support him?
RAJU CHINTHALA: I think there are three things here, very important. In the democratic—I mean, in the Republican Party, with the democratic process, what we have is a strategy, a campaign material, that campaign voice he takes. One is the safety. Safety is the most important. Right now, we are in fear. The America is attacked by many times, and we not done anything. Second is, we have to stop illegal immigrants coming into this country. Third is jobs. I came here for job. I came here 20 years ago for a job.
AMY GOODMAN: From?
RAJU CHINTHALA: From India. I came here on H-1B visa. I got my job in Michigan. I went through the process. It took 13 years for me to get the passport to become a citizen, which is a dream come true. This is a land of opportunities. The jobs are moving out of—outside this country. And so, if I look at it, my kids, my next and grandkids and all those, it is pathetic to see how we are going to, as America, to have all these—where we used to have all this, 20, 30 years ago, we all come here because of all these opportunities.
AMY GOODMAN: Kendal Unruh, why are you opposed to Donald Trump? What are the key issues?
KENDAL UNRUH: Sure, let’s talk about the economic policies, because he has actually been a very strong proponent for tariffs. And the Republican Party is all about free trade. We are not for tariffs. And we’ve actually been very explicit about that in our platform, because when you are slapping a 25 to 35 percent tariff on consumer goods that are being imported, the consumers pay that. And I’ve actually brought that up in a simple economics 101 lesson, and they said, "Well, I’m willing to pay that." No, you’re really not. You’re not willing to pay $120 for a $60 pair of shoes, and times that by four for—to put them on your family. But so, he’s going to penalize the companies when they come back, when he forces them back, because they’ve been—actually, have left America because of regulations and taxation. And his very promise was, well, if you come back, I’m going to be now increasing the corporation tax rate to 14.25 percent. Once again, corporations don’t pay taxes; consumers pay taxes. And so, even economically, it’s not going to make America great again. It’s going to drive America broke.
AMY GOODMAN: Who did you support?
KENDAL UNRUH: I supported Ted Cruz.
AMY GOODMAN: Let’s talk about the themes that Donald Trump has doubled down on. The building of the wall with Mexico, your thoughts on this, Raju?
RAJU CHINTHALA: I think it’s not just the wall, but it’s more important is how to secure our borders so that the drugs and illegal immigrants doesn’t cross the border.
AMY GOODMAN: And let’s add to that barring Muslims from coming into the country.
RAJU CHINTHALA: I don’t agree with all Muslims. I think there are countries—
AMY GOODMAN: You mean you don’t agree with all Muslims being barred.
RAJU CHINTHALA: Correct, that there are countries where terrorism is more active, that those countries are not able to do anything. And we should identify those countries where the terrorism is more and activities is more, so that they don’t come just on tourist visa or any other visa.
AMY GOODMAN: Let me go to Donald Trump during a debate in January on Fox Business. Donald Trump reiterated his plan to bar all Muslims from entering the country.
MARIA BARTIROMO: Your comment about banning Muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to Facebook, it was the most talked-about moment online of your entire campaign, with more than 10 million people talking about the issue. Is there anything you’ve heard that makes you want to rethink this position?
DONALD TRUMP: No. No. Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that’s not going to have the kind of problems that we’ve had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the—with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world. I just left Indonesia—bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb.
AMY GOODMAN: Kendal Unruh, your response?
KENDAL UNRUH: Well, it’s very disconcerting to hear the crowd cheering the fact that he’s wanting to ban an entire segment of people of faith. I’m an evangelical Christian. The Founding Fathers established the First Amendment for the sole purpose of making sure you can never apply a religious litmus test to anybody from coming into America. And it is grievous, the fact that he thinks that he can use the heavy hand of government to make sure that doesn’t happen, because I tell my Christian friends, "Fill in the blank next time with 'Christian,' that he wants to ban all Christians, because if you give the government that much power and control, you’re next."
Now, talking about vetting, that’s a different subject. Everybody who comes into our nation needs to be vetted. We need to secure those borders. So, the fact that he wants to ban everybody is not—is ludicrous on its face, is obviously demagoguing to the fear that people have against Muslims. And vetting people coming in is a different story. You have to vet everybody. I don’t care if they even claim to be a Christian. I mean, you vet everybody.
AMY GOODMAN: The issue of abortion?
RAJU CHINTHALA: Coming back to the Muslims, and yesterday, if you see the Mrs. Trump speech, it’s clearly said, good Muslims and bad Muslims. And we all have, in every religion, good or bad. However we want to take the religion out of politics, religion plays a critical role in the politics. It’s not just this election, every election, whether it’s the Democratic Party, whether it’s the Republican Party. And to win elections, they always talk about politic—I mean, religion. So, here, yesterday, when they said good Muslims needs to take care of bad Muslims in their own countries, where the Muslim population is more, so we don’t have that—to screen that.
AMY GOODMAN: Abortion?
RAJU CHINTHALA: Abortion—
AMY GOODMAN: I’m asking you especially given that Governor Pence is the vice-presidential running mate. Both he and Donald Trump now fiercely opposed to abortion, though Donald Trump wasn’t always opposed to abortion. Do you share the governor’s and Donald Trump’s views on this? You’re close to Governor Pence, is that right?
RAJU CHINTHALA: I’m in the middle of those two. So, I come from a Hindu faith. And we all believe the protector of every life, and the life starts, you know, when they’re conceived in the womb. So, that depends on—I’m also a medical professional. It all depends on how the mother needs to be done. And the abortion, if needs protect the life of mother, in most of the healthcare—medical conditions, that should be done.
KENDAL UNRUH: Well, and, actually, our platform has always been extraordinarily conservative on the sanctity of life. And that was actually one of the flipping points for me against Donald Trump, when he mocked the reporter with disabilities, because as a mom who lost a child to their disabilities, it sent a message to me that he alone gets to determine who has value and who does not. It screamed the message that—who is he to determine what the sanctity of life is and where the value is on life? Because we’re all created—
AMY GOODMAN: Were you shocked when he did that?
KENDAL UNRUH: I was repulsed.
AMY GOODMAN: The New York Times reporter.
KENDAL UNRUH: I was so repulsed. And then, it was at that moment I decided I will do everything I can to make sure he does not get this nomination, because it revealed his heart. And I believe that a candidate and what he values and who he is is reflected in the hearts of his supporters. And I’ll tell you, we have been—when we have been high-profile and vocal against Donald Trump—delegates, Rules Committee members, etc.—the backlash has been nothing like I’ve ever seen in politics. And I call them soft thug techniques, the amazing threats and coercion and intimidation. And I say, look, once again, he can’t do that to voters in the general election. He can do it in this small, contained environment of delegates. He can extort and force votes out of them. But he certainly can’t do it running against Hillary Clinton. ... Read More →
Meet Trump VP Pick Mike Pence, Crusader Against Safe Legal Abortion and LGBTQ Rights
We look at the record of Donald Trump and his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, on LGBT rights and restricting women’s access to reproductive healthcare with Dawn Laguens, executive vice president and chief experience officer of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. In 2015, Pence signed into law the highly controversial anti-LGBT Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which gave businesses license to discriminate against LGBT people. The law caused a nationwide backlash. Dozens of companies and professional sports teams and leagues, including the Indianapolis-headquartered NCAA, threatened to boycott Indiana. Apple CEO Tim Cook slammed the law, likening it to the Jim Crow laws of the American South. Ultimately, Pence was forced to enact a revision specifying the law does not authorize anti-LGBT discrimination. As governor, Pence also oversaw a cut in Planned Parenthood funding in the state and signed legislation, since blocked, that would have restricted abortion access statewide. In 2011, he threatened to shut down the entire government if Congress didn’t defund Planned Parenthood.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, "Breaking with Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency." I’m Amy Goodman. We’re broadcasting live from Cleveland, Ohio, covering the Republican National Convention, inside and out, from the corporate suites to the streets to the convention floor. We turn now to look at Donald Trump’s running mate.
DONALD TRUMP: I’ve found the leader who will help us deliver a safe society and a prosperous, really prosperous society for all Americans. Indiana Governor Mike Pence was my first choice. I’ve admired the work he’s done, especially in the state of Indiana.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Donald Trump introducing his running mate, Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, who was first elected to Congress in 2000, then was elected governor in 2012. He spoke after being introduced by Donald Trump.
GOV. MIKE PENCE: People who know me well know I’m a pretty basic guy. I’m a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order. Now, while I’m currently—I currently have the privilege of serving the state that I love, I’m really—I’m really just a small-town boy who grew up in southern Indiana with a big family and a cornfield in the backyard.
AMY GOODMAN: In 2015, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed into law the highly controversial anti-LGBT Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which gave businesses license to discriminate. The law caused a nationwide backlash. Dozens of companies, professional sports teams and leagues, including the Indianapolis-headquartered NCAA, threatened to boycott Indiana. Apple CEO Tim Cook slammed the law, likening it to the Jim Crow laws of the American South. Ultimately, Governor Pence was forced to enact a revision specifying the law does not authorize anti-LGBT discrimination.
As governor, Pence also oversaw a cut in Planned Parenthood funding in the state and signed legislation, which has since been blocked, that would have restricted abortion access statewide. Governor Pence has long been a vocal critic of Planned Parenthood. In 2011, as a congressman, he threatened to shut down the entire government if Congress didn’t defund Planned Parenthood.
Joining us now is Dawn Laguens, executive vice president and chief experience officer at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. She led the successful campaign to defeat the 2011 Pence amendment.
Welcome to Democracy Now!
DAWN LAGUENS: Thanks, Amy. Good morning.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s great to have you with us. So, talk about Governor Pence as not just the governor of Indiana, but, if he were to win, the vice president of the United States. Your response when you heard that Donald Trump had named him?
DAWN LAGUENS: Well, I was shocked that Donald Trump thought that this was a way to make gains with women, whom he’s doing so poorly with in the election, as you know, Amy. And this just sent a message nationwide that the man who’s been the leader of a crusade against women’s healthcare, against safe legal abortion, against Planned Parenthood and against LGBTQ communities is now on the Republican ticket.
AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about his record, and talk specifically about his attack on Planned Parenthood, your organization.
DAWN LAGUENS: Yes. I actually came to Planned Parenthood to fight the Pence amendment, as it was called, in 2011, when Mike Pence had said he wanted to take away all funding for Planned Parenthood preventive health services, cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment, birth control—nothing even to do with abortion at the time. But what he did is make sure that women would not be able to have access to those services at Planned Parenthood. And we were terribly shocked at his efforts.
AMY GOODMAN: Let me turn to a clip of then-Congressman Mike Pence speaking in 2011. It was the same year that a dozen Planned Parenthood clinics became the target of an undercover video sting by activist James O’Keefe and the anti-choice group Live Action. Pence used the videos as ammunition to build support for the bill to deny federal family planning funds to any organization that performs abortions, including Planned Parenthood.
REP. MIKE PENCE: It comes as a surprise to most Americans to learn that the largest abortion provider in America is also the largest recipient of federal funding under Title X. And it’s heartbreaking news this morning that Planned Parenthood of America has now been the subject of one more undercover video showing someone posing as a pimp being facilitated by employees at Planned Parenthood in how to secure secret abortions, STD testing and contraception for child prostitutes. You know, as a father of two teenage daughters, I see the video that came out this morning, I see the video that came out last week, and it’s an outrage to me that employees of Planned Parenthood clinics across the country are facilitating the abuse of minor girls in this country. It should be a scandal to every American. The time has come to deny all federal funding to Planned Parenthood of America. I’ve authored the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which would deny Title X funds to Planned Parenthood or any other abortion provider. And Congress must act, and act now, to move this important legislation. Pro-life Americans and all Americans should not be forced to subsidize America’s largest abortion provider or to continue to provide federal taxpayer dollars to Title X clinics that engage in this abhorrent behavior.
AMY GOODMAN: So that was Congressman Pence. Explain what happened next, Dawn Laguens.
DAWN LAGUENS: Well, after Mike Pence took on Planned Parenthood and our health services, millions of people around the country rallied and said, "Wait, we depend on this care every single day." Two-point-five million women come to Planned Parenthood year in, year out, across the country. And so, people banded together. Members of Congress said no way, shut down Mike Pence, obviously went all the way to President Obama, who finally said, "I’m going to stand beside Planned Parenthood and the care that they deliver," and, of course, said no to defunding Planned Parenthood. But, of course, Mike Pence tried this six times. He introduced six bills to defund Planned Parenthood, in addition to backing a host of others that would have limited women’s access to their reproductive rights and health.
AMY GOODMAN: So talk about how this fits in with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, how you see it connecting. And what do you think of Governor Pence now being named as the vice-presidential nominee, the running mate of Donald Trump?
DAWN LAGUENS: Well, Mike Pence explained to us, I think, when he said, "I’m a Christian before I’m anything else," that that was what his agenda was going to be. His version of Christianity was going to be his platform in office—not the public good, not what the Republican Party, not what people in his district or in his state wanted, but that he was going to put his personal religious beliefs before everyone else’s concerns and drive those nonstop now for a dozen years. So we have a really good idea in this country who Mike Pence is, and most people don’t like who that is and what he represents.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, not everyone. A lot of people do like him. I was spending time in the Indiana delegation last night. In our first hour of Democracy Now! today, I was speaking to an Indiana delegate, close friend of Governor Pence. But last night, one of the people I talked to was a Republican delegate from New York, Wendy Long. She’s challenging U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer for his seat in November.
WENDY LONG: It’s not attempting to be discriminatory about anyone, but in our Constitution is very clearly written protection for the free exercise of religion. Other rights are subsidiary to that right, which is enshrined directly in our Constitution.
AMY GOODMAN: So you think if a person does not think it’s right to serve a gay, lesbian or trans person, they just have that right not, for example, to cater to them in their business?
WENDY LONG: I think it depends on exactly what it is, but I think if it’s a matter of, you know, baking cupcakes or doing flower arrangements, something that’s easily done somewhere else, I think, you know, why not just go and give that service somewhere else from someone whose conscience and religion and deepest—deepest-held beliefs aren’t going to be bothered by that. And it’s not the person. Let me add, it’s not the person. I think, in the general context in which these comes up is religious ceremonies. So, if a gay person or a lesbian person comes into the bakeshop or wants to buy flowers, nobody is—nobody is talking about not selling to them. It’s more the ceremony and the religious aspect and being a part of that that’s at issue. And people try to cast that as being against an individual, which I think it really isn’t.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, if they said they didn’t feel comfortable serving a black person, do they have that right?
WENDY LONG: Well, no. And I don’t—no, absolutely not. And I don’t think that that’s—I don’t think that’s being suggested or being said. And I don’t even think it’s being suggested or said about the person, as I just explained. It’s not the individual. It’s a religious ceremony and being a part of that. Nobody is suggesting they wouldn’t serve such a person who walked into a shop and wanted to buy cupcakes. That’s just not the issue.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Wendy Long. She is the U.S. Senate challenger to Chuck Schumer, the longtime senator from New York. She’s the Republican candidate. Your response? You know, if you don’t want to buy a cupcake in this bakery, go to another bakery.
DAWN LAGUENS: Nobody thinks this is about cupcakes. Right? This is about the basic equality of all citizens in this country. And would she say the same thing if a business owner said, "I don’t want to provide a cake for a wedding between a Muslim and a Christian. I don’t want to provide a service for a black person and a white person"? Where does it end, when you start to make these distinctions when it comes to the public square, not the personal religious square?
AMY GOODMAN: And so, explain what your approach—you’re here. You’ve just flown into Cleveland. What you’re doing at the Republican convention?
DAWN LAGUENS: Yeah, I’m doing two things. One is talking to people like you, Amy, as things are being said and to let people know Planned Parenthood’s experience with Mike Pence and what we know firsthand of his record and how he has negatively affected the health of women in this country. And also I’m here to meet many Republicans who actually don’t agree with the platform. Planned Parenthood has a rich history. Many people on our boards today, many people who work for us, and many people who come to us are Republicans. And so, we’re also sending a message that Planned Parenthood is a nonpartisan organization. We’re here to say everyone should support the great work that Planned Parenthood is doing in this country.
AMY GOODMAN: We were talking about Governor Pence, but I want to go to the Republican presidential candidate, the presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, who sparked widespread outrage by saying women should be punished for having abortions if the procedure were to become illegal. This is Trump speaking on MSNBC’s Chris Matthews’ show during a town hall aired.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Should abortion be punished?
DONALD TRUMP: Well, people in certain parts of the Republican Party and conservative Republicans would say, yes, they should be punished.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: How about you?
DONALD TRUMP: I would say that it’s a very serious problem. And it’s a problem that we have to decide on.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no, as a principle?
DONALD TRUMP: The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: For the woman?
DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, there has to be some form.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Ten cents? Ten years? What?
DONALD TRUMP: Let me just tell you—I don’t know. That I don’t know. That I don’t know.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Why not?
DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: You take positions on everything else.
DONALD TRUMP: Because I don’t want to—I—frankly, I do take positions on everything else. It’s a very complicated position.
AMY GOODMAN: So that was Donald Trump speaking a while ago, months ago. He walked that back. Also at one point he was pro-choice, but now calling for women to be prosecuted, then saying he didn’t quite mean that, maybe just the doctors who perform these abortions. What is Donald Trump’s position? Has Planned Parenthood been able to pin it down?
DAWN LAGUENS: I take Donald Trump at his word that he will appoint Supreme Court justices who will undo Roe v. Wade. I look at what he’s done by choosing Mike Pence, the number one crusader against Planned Parenthood, safe legal abortion and women’s health and rights in this country. And I say Donald Trump is a danger to women and families and their healthcare and their rights.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you, Dawn Laguens, for being here, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. When we come back, the man described as "the Jon Stewart of Egypt." His name is Bassem Youssef. What’s he doing in Cleveland? Stay with us. ... Read More →
Headlines:"Never Trump" Delegates Attempt Revolt on RNC Convention Floor
The first day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland was marked by discord and moments of chaos Monday both inside and outside the convention arena. Hours before Donald Trump arrived on the convention floor, delegates opposed to Donald Trump attempted to stage a rebellion by calling for a roll call vote to oppose Donald Trump’s nomination.
Delegates: "Roll call vote! Roll call vote! Roll call vote!"
Dane Waters: "My name is Dane Waters. I’m co-founder of Delegates Unbound. It’s a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and the heart and soul of this country."
Dane Waters, co-founder of Delegates Unbound, was seeking to change the party’s nominating rules to allow delegates to support alternative Republican candidates over Trump. Monday afternoon, the anti-Trump forces rattled the Trump campaign and Republican leadership by producing signatures from a majority of delegates from 11 states and territories, far more than the seven jurisdictions needed to force an up-or-down vote on the convention’s rules package. But the Trump campaign and Republican Party leadership quashed the rebellious faction by instead opting for a voice vote—which quickly descended into a shouting match in which Trump supporters overpowered the anti-Trump faction.
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
2016 Election
RNC 2016
RNC: Sheriff David Clarke Calls Occupy & BLM Movements "Anarchy"
Hours after the attempted rebellion, the opening night of the RNC kicked off with a speech by the controversial "Duck Dynasty" star Willie Robertson, who noted that both he and Donald Trump are reality TV personalities. The night was dubbed "Benghazi night," featuring a speech by Pat Smith, whose son Sean Smith died alongside U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in Libya. Republicans have repeatedly denounced former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her handling of the 2012 Benghazi attacks, although a series of investigations have cleared Clinton of wrongdoing. Another speaker was Jamiel Shaw Sr., the father of Jamiel Shaw Jr., who was shot and killed at 17 by an undocumented immigrant in 2008 near their home in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke celebrated the acquittal of Baltimore police officer Brian Rice, one of the officers on trial in the Freddie Gray case, who died from injuries sustained in police custody.
Sheriff David Clarke: "There is some good news out of Baltimore, Maryland, as Lieutenant Brian Rice was acquitted on all charges. … What we witnessed in Ferguson and Baltimore and Baton Rouge was a collapse of the social order. So many of the actions of the Occupy movement and Black Lives Matter transcends peaceful protest and violates the code of conduct we rely on. I call it anarchy."
TOPICS:
2016 Election
RNC 2016
Melania Trump Plagiarizes Parts of Michelle Obama's 2008 DNC Speech
Other speakers at the opening night of the RNC included former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Trump’s wife Melania Trump, whose speech appears to have plagiarized parts of first lady Michelle Obama’s speech from the 2008 Democratic National Convention. This clip comparing the two speeches begins with Michelle Obama.
Michelle Obama: "Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life."
Melania Trump: "The values that you work hard for what you want in life."
Michelle Obama: "That your word is your bond, that you do what you say you’re going to do."
Melania Trump: "That your word is your bond, and you do what you say and keep your promise."
Michelle Obama: "Because we want our children and all children in this nation to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them."
Melania Trump: "Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."
Melania Trump in her speech Monday night at the RNC, and Michelle Obama in her speech at the DNC in 2008. In response to the allegations of plagiarism, Trump campaign chairperson Paul Manafort told CNN Melania Trump had not plagiarized Michelle Obama and that these were simply "common" words.
Chris Cuomo: "Who takes the fall for cribbing Michelle Obama’s speech in 2008? Whose fault is that?"
Paul Manafort: "Well, there’s no cribbing of Michelle Obama’s speech. These were common words and values, that she cares about her family, that—things like that. I mean, she was speaking in front of 35 million people last night. She knew that. To think that she would be cribbing Michelle Obama’s words is crazy. I mean, it’s so—I mean, this is, once again, an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks to demean her and take her down."
Meanwhile, the list of Republicans who are not coming to the convention in Cleveland is growing. Ohio Governor John Kasich has refused to endorse Donald Trump, and he has not shown up to the convention, even though it is in his own state. He is not expected to come at any point this week.
More than a dozen other Republican leaders have also decided to skip the RNC, including Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, who says he’s staying home because he’d rather mow his lawn, and Florida Congressmember Dennis Ross, who says he’s skipping theRNC because "It’s a good time to be fishing in Montana."
TOPICS:
2016 Election
RNC: Thousands Protest Trump at Chuck D & Tom Morello Concert
Outside the convention arena, both pro- and anti-Trump protests and rallies continued Monday, with thousands of people marching to denounce Donald Trump’s presumptive nomination and gathering to hear a concert by Prophets of Rage, a new project of Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. Other activists worked to construct a massive wall to use in a protest later in the week.
LJ Amsterdam: "This is LJ from the Ruckus Society, and I’m here with Mijente in Cleveland at the art convergence space. And we are organizing an action called 'Wall Off Trump.' What we’re going to do is we are building thousands of feet of fabric wall, that’s beautiful and has messages from our communities. And we are encircling theGOP, we’re encircling the convention center. And we are going to show Trump to keep his hate out of our communities."
Meanwhile, hundreds more people rallied in support of Donald Trump. We’ll have more voices from the street later in the broadcast.
TOPICS:
RNC 2016
2016 Election
Donald Trump
NY Mag: Roger Ailes to Be Fired amid Sexual Harassment Claims
New York Magazine says Rupert Murdoch is reportedly preparing to fire Fox News chair and CEO Roger Ailes, amid a series of sexual harassment accusations. Ailes has been under fire since last month, when Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson sued Ailes, saying he made repeated advances toward her. Carlson also says when she rejected his advances, Ailes retaliated against her by cutting her salary, curtailing her airtime and then refusing to renew her contract. A half-dozen more women have also spoken out about being sexually harassed by Ailes. One of the six women says she was 16 when Roger Ailes brought her into his office, locked the door and then pulled down his pants. When she refused to perform oral sex, she says, he chased her around the office until finally allowing her to leave the room.
Baltimore: Third Officer Acquitted in Freddie Gray Case
In Baltimore, the fourth of six police officers to go on trial for the death of Freddie Gray has been acquitted. Lieutenant Brian Rice was the highest-ranking officer charged in the death of Gray, who died after sustaining spinal injuries in police custody in April 2015. Rice was charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. Two other police officers have also been acquitted. A fourth trial resulted in a hung jury. The trial of a fifth officer involved in the case is expected to begin later this month. We’ll go to Baltimore later in the broadcast.
TOPICS:
Freddie Gray
Police Brutality
Activist Fined $500 for Protesting No Conviction in Freddie Gray Case
Meanwhile, a judge has found a Baltimore activist guilty of failing to obey an order from law enforcement during a protest last year. Police arrested Kwame Rose at a protest in December after a jury failed to convict police officer William Porter, the first of six officers to go on trial in the death of Freddie Gray. Kwame Rose received a fine of $500, although the judge did not sentence him to a year of probation, which is what the state prosecutor was asking for. We’ll speak with Kwame Rose later in the broadcast.
TOPICS:
Freddie Gray
Police
Baton Rouge Police: Shooter Who Killed 3 Cops Was Targeting Police
In Baton Rouge, police say the former U.S. marine who killed three police officers Sunday was in the city specifically to target police. The shooter, 29-year-old Gavin Long, recorded videos that were posted online under the pseudonym Cosmo Setepenra before he shot six police officers, killing three. In the videos, Long discusses police shootings of African Americans, including the death of Alton Sterling, who was shot and killed by police officers in Baton Rouge earlier this month.
TOPICS:
Police
Fmr. AG Eric Holder Calls on Police to Join Movement for Gun Control
Speaking at a conference of African-American law enforcement officers Monday, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch sought to assure police officers the federal government is trying to help ease tensions after the killings of three police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and five police officers in Dallas, Texas. Lynch said agents from the FBI and other federal agencies were in Baton Rouge to help local authorities. Former Attorney General Eric Holder also spoke about the need to control Americans’ access to deadly firearms, and called on the police to join the movement for gun control.
Eric Holder: "It is far past time for those of you in law enforcement to join with other responsible Americans and take on the mindless, industry-driven gun lobby that values an illogical individual ability to possess military-grade weapons more than the lives of the American people, in general, and our law enforcement personnel, in particular. Speak up."
TOPICS:
Gun Control
Police
Turkish President Moves to Reinstate Death Penalty After Failed Coup
In news from Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will reinstate the death penalty after Friday’s failed military coup. As many as 20,000 members of the police, civil service, judiciary and army have been detained or suspended since Friday’s attempted coup. Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004. Erdogan is pushing for lawmakers to vote to reinstate it when the Parliament meets Wednesday. The attempted coup has also strained U.S. relations with Turkey. Erdogan has accused Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish cleric living in Pennsylvania, of masterminding the coup. Erdogan has demanded Gülen’s extradition. U.S. officials say they will consider any official requests for extradition, but that none have so far been made.
Report: U.S.-Led Airstrikes Kill 100 Civilians in Less Than 2 Months
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition have killed more than 100 civilians in one town in less than two months. The Observatory says at least 21 civilians in the northern Syrian town of Manbij were killed by the airstrikes on Monday alone. A U.S.-backed Syrian militia has been trying to take the town from ISIS control since the end of May.
TOPICS:
Syria
Kashmir: 3 Killed as Indian Security Forces Open Fire on Protesters
Indian soldiers fired on demonstrators in Kashmir on Tuesday, killing three people, amid ongoing protests in the disputed territory. The protests began nearly two weeks ago after Indian security forces shot dead Kashmiri independence activist Burhan Muzaffar Wani. India has imposed a curfew, banned some newspapers from printing, and blocked mobile phone service in Kashmir amid the ongoing protests. At least 42 people have now been killed since the protests began.
TOPICS:
Kashmir
Pakistan Takes Stand on Honor Killing of Female Social Media Star
In Pakistan, authorities have taken a rare stand against an honor killing of a famous female blogger. Twenty-six-year-old social media blogger Qandeel Baloch was strangled to death last week by her brother, Waseem Azeem. Baloch had nearly 750,000 followers on Facebook, who loved her funny, flirty and increasingly political social media posts. She has said that she wanted to inspire other women, and she called herself a "modern day feminist." In Pakistan, a family can "forgive" the perpetrator of an honor killing so that he can avoid prosecution. But the Pakistani government has forbidden Baloch’s family from legally "forgiving" her brother for the murder, opening up the possibility he will be charged in her death.
TOPICS:
Pakistan
Nation's Largest Mexican & Latino Art Museum Opens in San Francisco
And a dedication ceremony takes place today for San Francisco’s newest museum: The Mexican Museum, which will house the United States’ largest collection of Mexican and Latino art. The 60,000-square-foot museum will include 800 works of Mexican folk art, including pieces by Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. The museum is the realization of the dream of Mexican-American artist Peter Rodriguez. He opened San Francisco’s first museum for Latino art in a Mission District storefront in 1975. He died on July 1 at the age of 90.
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SPEAKING EVENTS
The first day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland was marked by discord and moments of chaos Monday both inside and outside the convention arena. Hours before Donald Trump arrived on the convention floor, delegates opposed to Donald Trump attempted to stage a rebellion by calling for a roll call vote to oppose Donald Trump’s nomination.
Delegates: "Roll call vote! Roll call vote! Roll call vote!"
Dane Waters: "My name is Dane Waters. I’m co-founder of Delegates Unbound. It’s a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and the heart and soul of this country."
Dane Waters, co-founder of Delegates Unbound, was seeking to change the party’s nominating rules to allow delegates to support alternative Republican candidates over Trump. Monday afternoon, the anti-Trump forces rattled the Trump campaign and Republican leadership by producing signatures from a majority of delegates from 11 states and territories, far more than the seven jurisdictions needed to force an up-or-down vote on the convention’s rules package. But the Trump campaign and Republican Party leadership quashed the rebellious faction by instead opting for a voice vote—which quickly descended into a shouting match in which Trump supporters overpowered the anti-Trump faction.
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
2016 Election
RNC 2016
RNC: Sheriff David Clarke Calls Occupy & BLM Movements "Anarchy"
Hours after the attempted rebellion, the opening night of the RNC kicked off with a speech by the controversial "Duck Dynasty" star Willie Robertson, who noted that both he and Donald Trump are reality TV personalities. The night was dubbed "Benghazi night," featuring a speech by Pat Smith, whose son Sean Smith died alongside U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in Libya. Republicans have repeatedly denounced former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her handling of the 2012 Benghazi attacks, although a series of investigations have cleared Clinton of wrongdoing. Another speaker was Jamiel Shaw Sr., the father of Jamiel Shaw Jr., who was shot and killed at 17 by an undocumented immigrant in 2008 near their home in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke celebrated the acquittal of Baltimore police officer Brian Rice, one of the officers on trial in the Freddie Gray case, who died from injuries sustained in police custody.
Sheriff David Clarke: "There is some good news out of Baltimore, Maryland, as Lieutenant Brian Rice was acquitted on all charges. … What we witnessed in Ferguson and Baltimore and Baton Rouge was a collapse of the social order. So many of the actions of the Occupy movement and Black Lives Matter transcends peaceful protest and violates the code of conduct we rely on. I call it anarchy."
TOPICS:
2016 Election
RNC 2016
Melania Trump Plagiarizes Parts of Michelle Obama's 2008 DNC Speech
Other speakers at the opening night of the RNC included former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Trump’s wife Melania Trump, whose speech appears to have plagiarized parts of first lady Michelle Obama’s speech from the 2008 Democratic National Convention. This clip comparing the two speeches begins with Michelle Obama.
Michelle Obama: "Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life."
Melania Trump: "The values that you work hard for what you want in life."
Michelle Obama: "That your word is your bond, that you do what you say you’re going to do."
Melania Trump: "That your word is your bond, and you do what you say and keep your promise."
Michelle Obama: "Because we want our children and all children in this nation to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them."
Melania Trump: "Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."
Melania Trump in her speech Monday night at the RNC, and Michelle Obama in her speech at the DNC in 2008. In response to the allegations of plagiarism, Trump campaign chairperson Paul Manafort told CNN Melania Trump had not plagiarized Michelle Obama and that these were simply "common" words.
Chris Cuomo: "Who takes the fall for cribbing Michelle Obama’s speech in 2008? Whose fault is that?"
Paul Manafort: "Well, there’s no cribbing of Michelle Obama’s speech. These were common words and values, that she cares about her family, that—things like that. I mean, she was speaking in front of 35 million people last night. She knew that. To think that she would be cribbing Michelle Obama’s words is crazy. I mean, it’s so—I mean, this is, once again, an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks to demean her and take her down."
Meanwhile, the list of Republicans who are not coming to the convention in Cleveland is growing. Ohio Governor John Kasich has refused to endorse Donald Trump, and he has not shown up to the convention, even though it is in his own state. He is not expected to come at any point this week.
More than a dozen other Republican leaders have also decided to skip the RNC, including Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, who says he’s staying home because he’d rather mow his lawn, and Florida Congressmember Dennis Ross, who says he’s skipping theRNC because "It’s a good time to be fishing in Montana."
TOPICS:
2016 Election
RNC: Thousands Protest Trump at Chuck D & Tom Morello Concert
Outside the convention arena, both pro- and anti-Trump protests and rallies continued Monday, with thousands of people marching to denounce Donald Trump’s presumptive nomination and gathering to hear a concert by Prophets of Rage, a new project of Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. Other activists worked to construct a massive wall to use in a protest later in the week.
LJ Amsterdam: "This is LJ from the Ruckus Society, and I’m here with Mijente in Cleveland at the art convergence space. And we are organizing an action called 'Wall Off Trump.' What we’re going to do is we are building thousands of feet of fabric wall, that’s beautiful and has messages from our communities. And we are encircling theGOP, we’re encircling the convention center. And we are going to show Trump to keep his hate out of our communities."
Meanwhile, hundreds more people rallied in support of Donald Trump. We’ll have more voices from the street later in the broadcast.
TOPICS:
RNC 2016
2016 Election
Donald Trump
NY Mag: Roger Ailes to Be Fired amid Sexual Harassment Claims
New York Magazine says Rupert Murdoch is reportedly preparing to fire Fox News chair and CEO Roger Ailes, amid a series of sexual harassment accusations. Ailes has been under fire since last month, when Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson sued Ailes, saying he made repeated advances toward her. Carlson also says when she rejected his advances, Ailes retaliated against her by cutting her salary, curtailing her airtime and then refusing to renew her contract. A half-dozen more women have also spoken out about being sexually harassed by Ailes. One of the six women says she was 16 when Roger Ailes brought her into his office, locked the door and then pulled down his pants. When she refused to perform oral sex, she says, he chased her around the office until finally allowing her to leave the room.
Baltimore: Third Officer Acquitted in Freddie Gray Case
In Baltimore, the fourth of six police officers to go on trial for the death of Freddie Gray has been acquitted. Lieutenant Brian Rice was the highest-ranking officer charged in the death of Gray, who died after sustaining spinal injuries in police custody in April 2015. Rice was charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. Two other police officers have also been acquitted. A fourth trial resulted in a hung jury. The trial of a fifth officer involved in the case is expected to begin later this month. We’ll go to Baltimore later in the broadcast.
TOPICS:
Freddie Gray
Police Brutality
Activist Fined $500 for Protesting No Conviction in Freddie Gray Case
Meanwhile, a judge has found a Baltimore activist guilty of failing to obey an order from law enforcement during a protest last year. Police arrested Kwame Rose at a protest in December after a jury failed to convict police officer William Porter, the first of six officers to go on trial in the death of Freddie Gray. Kwame Rose received a fine of $500, although the judge did not sentence him to a year of probation, which is what the state prosecutor was asking for. We’ll speak with Kwame Rose later in the broadcast.
TOPICS:
Freddie Gray
Police
Baton Rouge Police: Shooter Who Killed 3 Cops Was Targeting Police
In Baton Rouge, police say the former U.S. marine who killed three police officers Sunday was in the city specifically to target police. The shooter, 29-year-old Gavin Long, recorded videos that were posted online under the pseudonym Cosmo Setepenra before he shot six police officers, killing three. In the videos, Long discusses police shootings of African Americans, including the death of Alton Sterling, who was shot and killed by police officers in Baton Rouge earlier this month.
TOPICS:
Police
Fmr. AG Eric Holder Calls on Police to Join Movement for Gun Control
Speaking at a conference of African-American law enforcement officers Monday, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch sought to assure police officers the federal government is trying to help ease tensions after the killings of three police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and five police officers in Dallas, Texas. Lynch said agents from the FBI and other federal agencies were in Baton Rouge to help local authorities. Former Attorney General Eric Holder also spoke about the need to control Americans’ access to deadly firearms, and called on the police to join the movement for gun control.
Eric Holder: "It is far past time for those of you in law enforcement to join with other responsible Americans and take on the mindless, industry-driven gun lobby that values an illogical individual ability to possess military-grade weapons more than the lives of the American people, in general, and our law enforcement personnel, in particular. Speak up."
TOPICS:
Gun Control
Police
Turkish President Moves to Reinstate Death Penalty After Failed Coup
In news from Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will reinstate the death penalty after Friday’s failed military coup. As many as 20,000 members of the police, civil service, judiciary and army have been detained or suspended since Friday’s attempted coup. Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004. Erdogan is pushing for lawmakers to vote to reinstate it when the Parliament meets Wednesday. The attempted coup has also strained U.S. relations with Turkey. Erdogan has accused Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish cleric living in Pennsylvania, of masterminding the coup. Erdogan has demanded Gülen’s extradition. U.S. officials say they will consider any official requests for extradition, but that none have so far been made.
Report: U.S.-Led Airstrikes Kill 100 Civilians in Less Than 2 Months
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition have killed more than 100 civilians in one town in less than two months. The Observatory says at least 21 civilians in the northern Syrian town of Manbij were killed by the airstrikes on Monday alone. A U.S.-backed Syrian militia has been trying to take the town from ISIS control since the end of May.
TOPICS:
Syria
Kashmir: 3 Killed as Indian Security Forces Open Fire on Protesters
Indian soldiers fired on demonstrators in Kashmir on Tuesday, killing three people, amid ongoing protests in the disputed territory. The protests began nearly two weeks ago after Indian security forces shot dead Kashmiri independence activist Burhan Muzaffar Wani. India has imposed a curfew, banned some newspapers from printing, and blocked mobile phone service in Kashmir amid the ongoing protests. At least 42 people have now been killed since the protests began.
TOPICS:
Kashmir
Pakistan Takes Stand on Honor Killing of Female Social Media Star
In Pakistan, authorities have taken a rare stand against an honor killing of a famous female blogger. Twenty-six-year-old social media blogger Qandeel Baloch was strangled to death last week by her brother, Waseem Azeem. Baloch had nearly 750,000 followers on Facebook, who loved her funny, flirty and increasingly political social media posts. She has said that she wanted to inspire other women, and she called herself a "modern day feminist." In Pakistan, a family can "forgive" the perpetrator of an honor killing so that he can avoid prosecution. But the Pakistani government has forbidden Baloch’s family from legally "forgiving" her brother for the murder, opening up the possibility he will be charged in her death.
TOPICS:
Pakistan
Nation's Largest Mexican & Latino Art Museum Opens in San Francisco
And a dedication ceremony takes place today for San Francisco’s newest museum: The Mexican Museum, which will house the United States’ largest collection of Mexican and Latino art. The 60,000-square-foot museum will include 800 works of Mexican folk art, including pieces by Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. The museum is the realization of the dream of Mexican-American artist Peter Rodriguez. He opened San Francisco’s first museum for Latino art in a Mission District storefront in 1975. He died on July 1 at the age of 90.
Donate today:
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SPEAKING EVENTS
Part 2: Color of Change's Rashad Robinson Confronts Fraternal Order of Police over Racial Profiling
WORK WITH DN!
Special Expanded 2-Hour Broadcasts from the RNC and DNC—July 18-29
207 West 25th Street, 11th Floor
New York, New York 10001, United States
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