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"All He Has is a Toy Truck": The Shocking Police Shooting of Therapist Caring for Autistic Patient
In North Miami, the city’s police department is facing growing criticism after one of its officers shot an African-American behavioral therapist who was attempting to help an autistic man. At the time of the shooting, behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey was helping to calm Arnaldo Rios Soto, a 26-year-old autistic man, who had wandered away from a group home. Police responded after receiving a 911 call about a man who was possibly holding a gun. Police soon surrounded Rios Soto and the therapist, Charles Kinsey. Video shows Kinsey lying on the ground with his hands in the air. He told police no one was armed. In a cellphone video of the shooting, Kinsey can be heard telling police, "All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behavioral therapist at a group home." Rios Soto’s family says he has been traumatized by the incident and still wears the blood-soaked jacket he had on the day his friend, caregiver and therapist was shot by police. Meanwhile, Kinsey now walks with a cane and cannot stand on his leg for long. We speak with Charles Kinsey’s attorney, Hilton Napoleon, and Arnaldo Rios Soto’s lawyer, Matthew Dietz.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We begin today’s show in North Miami, where the city’s police department is facing growing criticism after one of its officers shot an African-American behavioral therapist who was attempting to help an autistic man. At the time of the shooting, behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey was helping to calm Arnaldo Rios Soto, a 26-year-old autistic man, who had wandered away from a group home. Police responded after receiving a 911 call about a man who was possibly holding a gun. Police soon surrounded Rios Soto and the therapist, Kinsey. A video shows Kinsey lying on the ground with his hands in the air. He told police no one was armed. In a cellphone video of the shooting, Kinsey can be heard telling police, quote, "All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behavioral therapist at a group home," unquote. Listen carefully.
CHARLES KINSEY: All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behavioral therapist at a group home.
AMY GOODMAN: Charles Kinsey can also be heard on the video trying to calm down the autistic man, and said he was more worried about his patient’s safety than his own. The young man is cradling, sitting cross-legged, his toy truck. The video does not show the moment the shots are fired, and Kinsey said officers offered no explanation. The police later said the officer meant to shoot Rios Soto, the young autistic man. Rios Soto’s family says he’s been traumatized by the incident and is not sleeping or eating. His mother says he still wears the blood-soaked jacket he had on the day that his friend, his caregiver, his father figure, Charles Kinsey, was shot by police in the leg. Kinsey now walks with a cane and can’t stand on his leg for long. He also suffers psychologically from the shooting.
Well, for more, we’re joined by Hilton Napoleon, attorney for Charles Kinsey, and Matthew Dietz, attorney for Arnaldo Rios Soto as well as his mother, Gladys Soto.
We welcome you all to Democracy Now! I wanted to begin with the lawyer for Charles, for Charles Kinsey, Hilton Napoleon. Describe what happened. What took place on that day that led the police to shoot your client, the behavior therapist Charles Kinsey, that we see on the video and hear pleading with the police, his arms outstretched, laying on his back on the ground?
HILTON NAPOLEON: Well, as you know, Arnaldo has severe autism, and he was sitting in the middle of the street playing with his toy truck. A passerby, who was in a car, I believe, saw him sitting in the roadway and called the police. When the police initially arrived, they got out of their vehicles with assault rifles and pointed them at my client. And they approached in a military format. They yelled at my client, "Get on the ground! Get on the ground!" My client complied immediately, laid flat on his back and put his hands in the air. And even though, as you heard on the video, he repeatedly told the officers that he’s holding a toy truck, that it’s not necessary to have your guns drawn, the officers still shot him in the leg, even though he was unarmed and it was clear from the video, and really clear from the officers’ vantage point, that Mr. Soto had a toy truck in his hand.
But the really troublesome part and the part that, you know, we’re really trying to wrap our heads around is that—what happened afterwards. If they really made a mistake and shot my client, there was no reason to handcuff him, and there was definitely no reason to fail to render aid. I mean, they basically left him there bleeding in the street and didn’t render him any aid. They didn’t put any pressure or a bandage on his wound. And that’s problematic, especially if they’re claiming that this was a mistake. That’s not how you treat an individual who you shot by mistake.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Matthew Dietz, can you tell us something about your client, Arnaldo Rios Soto? And he had been institutionalized at some points during his life. Could you talk about his history?
MATTHEW DIETZ: Sure. Arnaldo Rios Soto is a man that has autism. He also has an intellectual disability. And he needs specialized behavioral treatment. And that’s why he was in MacTown, and that’s why he was in a group home. As part of this, they’re supposed to watch him. They’re supposed to provide him the treatment that he needs. And he’s supposed to have a safe environment. Now, at this time, he eloped. He went out. And when Mr. Kinsey sought to get him back, this incident happened.
But since this incident, he—the day after this incident, he eloped back to the street. He went to the street. He started hitting the street where Mr. Kinsey was shot, where the blood was on the street, yelling and screaming about police, about shooting, about blood. And then, after that, he was institutionalized at a hospital in a psych unit. Ever since then, he’s been in the psych unit. And we want to ensure that he has the specialized treatment that he needs in order to get out. So we’re trying to find him a specialized behavioral home so he can go in and receive the treatment that he needs.
He has this—as part of his autism, he copies a lot of what he hears. So, when I visited him with his mother last week—well, actually, a couple of days ago—he kept on saying things like "Blood," "Don’t shoot, don’t shoot." And according to his mom, whenever he sees a security officer in the hospital, he thinks that officer is going to harm somebody. So, he has a lot of harm that he has to work out himself in order to maintain a minimal level of trust.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: His immediate reaction was that he thought that Mr. Kinsey had been killed?
MATTHEW DIETZ: Yes. He did not understand that Mr. Kinsey had not been killed, until Mr. Kinsey saw him in the hospital this week.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to turn to Mr. Kinsey, to social worker Charles Kinsey, speaking with local TV station WVSN from his hospital bed after the shooting.
CHARLES KINSEY: I’m going to the ground, just like this here, with my hands up. And I’m laying down here, just like this. And I’m telling him again, "Sir, there’s no need for a firearm. I’m unarmed. He’s an autistic guy. He had a toy truck in his hand." I’m like this right here. And when he shot—when he shot me, it was so surprising. It was like a mosquito bite. And when he hit me, I’m like—I still got my hands in the air. I said, "You know, I just got shot." And I’m standing there. I’m like, "Sir, why did you shoot me?" And his words to me, he said, "I don’t know." … And I’m face down on the ground with cuffs on, waiting on the rescue squad to come. I’d say about 20—about 20 minutes for the rescue squad to get there. And I was bleeding. Yes, bleeding.
AMY GOODMAN: That is Charles Kinsey from his hospital bed. This is just so astounding. Hilton Napoleon, you’re his attorney. He asked the police officer, "Why did you shoot me?" And he said, "I don’t know." And then the police union came out the next day and said that it was a mistake, that the officer did not mean to shoot Charles Kinsey, they meant to shoot Arnaldo Rios, the autistic young man?
HILTON NAPOLEON: Well, you know, to be quite honest with you, I don’t know what they were thinking. As an advocate, I can tell you one thing for sure: They would have been better off not saying anything. But they made the situation so much worse when they claimed that they tried to shoot an autistic kid. I don’t believe for one second that that was actually the case. That’s not how you treat someone after you shot them. You don’t leave them on the ground. You don’t leave them bleeding. And you don’t approach them and handcuff them. So, to try to later backtrack and say that, "Oh, we were really aiming at the autistic gentleman who was also sitting on the ground," I mean, to be quite frank with you, I don’t know what’s worse: shooting a man who has his hands straight up in the air and telling you that he’s unarmed while he’s lying on his back or shooting a 26-year-old who has no idea what’s going on. They’re equally reprehensible. And it’s a shame that they would actually try to state that they were shooting at Mr. Rios instead of my client.
MATTHEW DIETZ: And there’s something I’d like to add to with that. A lot of Miami police departments have crisis intervention teams. If they knew—if they had a call that somebody was suicidal, the first entity that they should have called were officers that were trained in crisis intervention. The issue with persons with disabilities in the neighborhood is a huge issue. It’s a right that all persons with disabilities have. To immediately assume that a person with a disability is a threat, is—may hurt somebody, is everything against what the disability community stands for, and it also makes it harder for persons with disabilities to integrate in the community. So, by having a police force that’s not specifically trained or know where group homes are in the area really makes it a danger for any person with a disability to live in that neighborhood.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, last week, Arnaldo Rios’s mother, Gladys Soto, spoke to reporters about the surprise reunion between her son, Rios, and Charles Kinsey.
GLADYS SOTO: He loves surprise. And he said, "Oh, surprise!" When he saw Charles, he said, "Oh, my god! Char! Oh, you have a cane." "Yes, I have a cane now." "OK, are you OK?" "Yes, I’m OK now. Are you OK, Arnaldo?" "Yes, now I’m OK. Sit down, sit down." We sit down together. Very emotional. I am very sad, very, very sad. And I’m very worried about your security—his security, his treatment. He need behavioral therapist. He need love. He need a safety place.
REPORTER: A safe place.
GLADYS SOTO: A safe place, because he’s autistic.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: That was Gladys Soto, Arnaldo Rios’s mother. Mr. Dietz, Matthew Dietz, what’s the situation right now with your client in terms of him getting the kind of services he needs?
MATTHEW DIETZ: There’s a huge issue with that. Florida does not have any intensive behavioral services homes that are available now for Arnaldo. And because of that, he’s still in a psychiatric ward in a hospital, where he does not have what he needs. He does not—he sleeps with that white truck every night. He cannot have that white truck with him in the hospital. He cannot have clothes that has strings on it in the hospital. We really want him to be in a behavioral home. And currently we’re speaking with the state of Florida in order to try to convert a normal behavioral home in order to provide him the intensive services that he needs.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Hilton Napoleon, what is happening now with Charles Kinsey? And have you filed a lawsuit, both of you?
HILTON NAPOLEON: Well, I can tell you a couple things. Mr. Kinsey is recovering physically. But for the grace of God, he’s still with us today, because he got shot with an AR-15 assault rifle. But the hardest part for Mr. Kinsey is going to be the mental aspect in the long run. He felt like he did everything in his power, everything that he possibly can, that we were taught from a young age to do, which is to cooperate with the police and do everything that they say. Not only did he do everything that the police asked him to do, but he also attempted to assist the police in helping Arnaldo to lay on the ground and comply with them, too.
As far as a lawsuit is concerned, the city of North Miami initially made statements to me that they wanted to resolve this case as quickly and amicably as possible. I have a complaint already prepared, and we’re in the process of filing that complaint and serving them with it.
MATTHEW DIETZ: And with regards to Mr.—
AMY GOODMAN: And Matthew Dietz?
MATTHEW DIETZ: I’m sorry. And with regards to Mr. Rios, our main concern is primarily to get Arnaldo to a safe home. In doing that, we’ve reached out to the Department of Justice, and we’ve urged them to start an investigation—two investigations. The first one is when a police department says, "We’re targeting a man with autism," that raises all sorts of alarms, that the police really do need training, and they need mandatory training immediately, to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
And secondly, we’ve urged the United States to come in and to look at the plans that people with disabilities—the choices people disabilities have to live in their neighborhoods. When we’re having an issue in getting Arnaldo to a safe home and we have to negotiate with the state of Florida in order to try to make one up, that’s something that not only affects Arnaldo, but it affects many other persons with autism in the community. And that’s something that should also be fixed. So, once we get our primary goals, which is ensure that there’s training and ensure that Arnaldo has a place to live, then we may think further. But we want to do what’s important first.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, Hilton Napoleon, this case, the shooting of Charles Kinsey, the behavior therapist, took place not two weeks after the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Talk about how this case fits into the bigger picture of police violence.
HILTON NAPOLEON: Well, I can tell you a couple of things. I have family who’s in law enforcement, and there are training issues regarding police departments. But one of the bigger issues that someone pointed out to me is that there’s a heart issue that’s involved. And until the police really have a connection with their citizens who they patrol—they’re really supposed to be there to protect and serve. And it’s a lot easier to put yourselves in this type of situation when you’re aiming a firearm at someone as opposed to trying to talk and help them. If they knew—if they did and implemented community policing services, where their officers were out there in the community talking to people, that humanizes the individuals that you’re supposed to be there to protect and serve. But when officers are always driving around and patrolling the areas looking for bad guys, that doesn’t gain the trust of the community. People would be so much better off and communities would be so much better off, if our officers focused more on community policing. But the reason why that’s important is because when you’re there talking to individuals and building relationships with people, it’s a lot harder to pull that trigger, because they’re humanized at that point. And that’s the heart problem behind policing in America today. A lot of times the officers don’t look at some of the people who they are supposed to protect and serve as what they are, which are citizens of the United States.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you both for being with us, Hilton Napoleon, attorney for Charles Kinsey, and Matthew Dietz, the attorney for Arnaldo [Rios Soto] as well as Gladys Soto, Arnaldo’s mother. This is Democracy Now! We’ll continue to follow that case.
When we come back, we look at the Movement for Black Lives platform that they have just unveiled, dealing with police violence, but well beyond. Stay with us. ... Read More →
Movement for Black Lives Calls for Reparations & "End to War Against Black People"
While all eyes have been on the Republican and Democratic platforms decided at the national conventions earlier this month, a broad coalition associated with the Black Lives Matter movement has released a platform of its own, demanding reparations and an "end to the wars against Black people." The list of demands from the Movement for Black Lives platform also includes the abolition of the death penalty, legislation to recognize the impacts of slavery, as well as investments in education initiatives, mental health services and employment programs. The publication comes just a week before the second anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, which sparked months of protests and catalyzed a national conversation about police killings of unarmed African-American men. For more, we speak with Ash-Lee Henderson, regional organizer for Project South and a member of the policy table leadership team of the Movement for Black Lives.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Over the past two weeks, the Republicans and Democrats made headlines for finalizing their party platforms. Well, now a broad coalition associated with the Black Lives Matter movement has released a platform of its own, demanding reparations and an "end to the wars against Black people." The list of demands from the Movement for Black Lives platform also includes the abolition of the death penalty, legislation to recognize the impacts of slavery, as well as investments in education initiatives, mental health services and employment programs. The publication comes just a week before the second anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, which sparked months of protests and catalyzed a national conversation about police killings of unarmed African-American men.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more on the Movement for Black Lives platform and the recent nationwide protests, we go to Atlanta, Georgia, where we’re joined by Ash-Lee Henderson. She is the regional organizer for Project South, part of the policy table leadership team of the Movement for Black Lives, also a member and leader of Concerned Citizens for Justice.
Ash-Lee Henderson, welcome to Democracy Now! Talk about how you came together and what the Movement for Black Lives platform calls for.
ASH-LEE HENDERSON: Absolutely. Thank you for having me. So, we spent over a year having conversations with over 60 organizations, that reached thousands of people, to talk to grassroots community organizations about what they’re doing to build transformative demands for justice for black people in the U.S. and abroad. And what we spent the last year doing was synthesizing all of that information into a Vision for Black Lives. We know that many people have questions about what the Movement for Black Lives, what black people in the U.S., in particular, in this context, want, why we’re out protesting and why we’ve been protesting, not just since Mike Brown was murdered—definitely catalyzed in a new way, in a broader conversation—but even before then. Almost five years ago, when Trayvon Martin was murdered, people took to the streets in Sanford, Florida.
And what we know is that there’s a need for transformative justice, for demands that actually aren’t just Band-Aids on the big-issue problems that our communities are facing. And so, we wanted to put together a vision, a visionary platform, with transformative demands to not just reform the problem, but to transform the way that black folks are able to live and thrive and support themselves in our communities. And so, after that year process, we launched the Vision for Black Lives yesterday and are excited about giving communities the tools that they need to be able to actually fight and win those transformative demands.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And the issue of reparations, which is a part of that platform, that’s been debated and discussed now for a few decades. How would you see that being implemented, or did that discussion occur?
ASH-LEE HENDERSON: Absolutely, it occurred. We talked to organizations that have been fighting for reparations for decades, and learned a lot through that process—the National African American Reparations Commission, just to—as one example. And what we know is that, for years, Representative Conyers has been fighting for a study on reparations in the United States. And what we know is that there’s a quick transition—and maybe it’s not that quick, right? Folks have been fighting for this for decades. But definitely a transition into moving from a study to actually talking about what reparations would look like and implementing that work. So we think reparations is a call for not just government to do the work that they need to do to rectify harm to black communities, but also corporations and other complicit institutions that have harmed black people. And so, that is reflected throughout the many policy demands under our call for reparations in the United States.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to turn to a clip of the—of Hillary Clinton at the Iowa Brown and Black Presidential Forum earlier this year. Grantland contributor Rembert Browne asked her about reparations.
REMBERT BROWNE: Do you think 2016 is the year, kind of on the federal level, we should start studying reparations?
HILLARY CLINTON: I think we should—we should start studying what investments we need to make in communities to help individuals and families and communities move forward. And I am absolutely committed to that. There are some good ideas out there. There’s an idea in the Congressional Black Caucus about really targeting federal dollars to communities that have had either disinvestment or no investment and have had years of being below the poverty level. That’s the kind of thing I’d like us to focus on and really help lift people up.
AMY GOODMAN: Ash-Lee Henderson, your response to Hillary Clinton?
ASH-LEE HENDERSON: Absolutely. I mean, what we believe is that investment into black communities and divestment from the institutions that harm black communities is important, but we also believe in reparations, that there can’t be reconciliation until there’s been truth and justice. And reparations is really a call for that. So, I think it would be really important. And what we’ve seen across the country is black people saying that we don’t want just a commitment to thinking about what might happen, to having conversations about potential ideas, but a call to action. What would be wonderful is if candidates that were trying to represent us on the municipal, state and federal level actually came with concretes about what they would do their first hundred days to implement calls for reparations, to put into place the solutions that communities have been calling for, again, for decades. So, we still stand in strong unity in a demand for reparations for black people in the United States.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And how do you envision using the platform, that’s been approved now at the local level, as we enter this obviously hotly contested election cycle?
ASH-LEE HENDERSON: Absolutely. So, I think that one of the important things to think about on the local level is the Vision for Black Lives as a tool. So this is, again, a platform that lifts up transformative demands. And on the local level, that can look like calling for community control of the institutions that are supposed to be serving your community, so whether that’s community control of the police or community control of your school board and schools, any of the institutions that are supposed to be created to serve your community. We also think that the demands around investment into communities and divestment from the systems that harm us is definitely a municipal, local demand. So, whether that looks like divestment from militarized policing and investment in black futures, there are so many ways that it can play out.
And so, the way that the platform is designed is that there are the broader demands around invest/divest, around reparations, around community control, economic justice, political power, etc., and there are state, local and federal demands with concrete policy examples, model policies, that you can see and take and develop in ways that are useful for your community. We also put in a lot of time doing research about what’s already been done, and are encouraging people to read it, because sometimes things like body cameras, things like community policing sound really great, but don’t actually work to stop the harm in black communities. So we put in some level of critique about whether this is playing out in ways that black people locally are supporting. And so, we definitely want people to use it on the local, state and federal level.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Ash-Lee Henderson, we want to thank you so much for being with us, of Project South, policy table leadership for Movement for Black Lives. We’ll link to your platform at democracynow.org. ... Read More →
The Never-Ending War: U.S. Announces New Front Against ISIS in Libya
The U.S. military carried out two airstrikes in Libya against ISIS fighters on Monday in the latest escalation of the U.S. war against the self-proclaimed Islamic State. The strikes took place in the city of Sirte. Pentagon officials said the campaign would continue until ISIS has been driven from the city, which it took over last year. Libya has been engulfed in fighting after a U.S.-backed military intervention ousted longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The Pentagon said Libya’s Western-backed unity government requested the airstrikes. The so-called unity government is one of three competing governments that claim legitimacy in the country. We speak to Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. She’s author of "Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: The U.S. military carried out two airstrikes in Libya against ISIS fighters on Monday in the latest escalation of the U.S. war against the self-proclaimed Islamic State. The strikes took place in the city of Sirte. Pentagon officials said the campaign would continue until ISIS has been driven from the city, which it took over last year.
AMY GOODMAN: Libya has been engulfed in fighting after a U.S.-backed military intervention ousted the longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The Pentagon said Libya’s Western-backed unity government requested the airstrikes. The so-called unity government is one of three competing governments that claim legitimacy in Libya.
Joining us now from Washington, Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, author of Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror.
Phyllis, welcome back to Democracy Now! We don’t have much time, but can you talk about what has just taken place, United States bombing Libya?
PHYLLIS BENNIS: Well, certainly, hearing all of the news about the Khans and their extraordinary story, we’re reminded of the price that is paid in this country for the continuing wars, the global war on terror, as George Bush used to call it. President Obama wants to call it something else, but it’s the same war.
This is a significant escalation. The airstrikes in Libya were aimed at the ISIS forces that remain in the city of Sirte. But the city of Sirte is a city of now about 80,000 people. We’ve had no reports of who else might have been injured or killed in those strikes, what’s happened to the civilian population. It’s as if there’s no one there but the few hundred ISIS fighters that the U.S. says are there. Libya has been in chaos since the U.S.-NATO attack, the regime change attack in 2011 that led to the ouster and then the killing of Muammar Gaddafi and the overthrow of his regime. There has been absolute military chaos. The weapons of the Gaddafi regime have spread throughout region, making all of the situations there much, much worse.
And one of the things that we’re seeing is that this kind of attack on territory controlled by ISIS simply does not destroy ISIS. You can’t destroy terrorism that way. What it does, in some circumstances, it might limit the number—excuse me—the number of people that remain under ISIS control, which is, by itself, a good thing, but you can’t take that out of the context that what that really means is you’re playing a kind of global whack-a-mole, where you stamp out ISIS in one place, and it pops up somewhere else. You take away territory they control, and they re-emerge as a more traditional terrorist operation, attacking people whether in Brussels or in Nice or in Baghdad or in Kabul or somewhere else.
So, there are numerous problems with this. One of the key ones is that this action was taken without authorization. President Obama made the decision a few days ago to authorize these military strikes without any authorization from Congress. Congress has refused to debate and discuss the possibility of a new authorization. And the Obama administration maintains its position that while it would like a new authorization specific to ISIS, it doesn’t believe it needs one, and it therefore continues to rely on the 2001 authorization, which called for military force to be used against the forces who had carried out the attacks of September 11. Now, ISIS, as we know, did not even exist until five years later. ISIS had no connection to the attacks of 9/11. So, the notion that this authorization now applies in Libya, where we heard the same story about the rationale for the Obama administration to take up bombing in Syria, to renew the U.S. force involvement in Iraq, in Yemen, supporting the Saudi government—in all of these arenas, the administration continues to rely on an outdated, not appropriate authorization, which does not in fact authorize the escalation that they are now calling for.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But, Phyllis—
PHYLLIS BENNIS: So this is a very serious problem.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Phyllis, if I can, under what authorization does the Obama administration even launch these attacks, since there are basically three competing governments claiming to be running Libya?
PHYLLIS BENNIS: You know, Juan, one of the things they’re saying is that this attack was in response to the request of the U.N.-backed government. Now, as you say, there are three competing governments. One of them was essentially created by the United Nations negotiators to try and pull together all the forces. It hasn’t worked. It’s one of three that are competing for legitimacy, competing for military and political power. So, the U.S. has gone in on the side of that government. What’s interesting is they have not even made the claim that there was an immediate threat to the United States or to American citizens. That could be used to justify an immediate presidential order. They have not tried to say, because that certainly that isn’t the case—there is no threat to the United States coming out of the chaos in Libya—
AMY GOODMAN: Phyllis, very—Phyllis, very quickly, in October of 2011, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was between interviews when she was told that Muammar Gaddafi had been killed. This was her response.
SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: We came, we saw, he died.
CBS INTERVIEWER: Did it have anything to do with your visit?
SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: No. Oh, I’m sure it did.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Hillary Clinton in 2011. Your final response, Phyllis?
PHYLLIS BENNIS: Whatever else, this was not a joke. It was not a joke for the thousands of people who have died in Libya. It was not a joke for anyone. The situation in Libya is far worse now than it was. Hillary Clinton, of course, as secretary of state then, was the leading voice urging President Obama to participate. And this kind of escalation is only going to make the situation worse. There is no military response to terrorism. President Obama says that over and over again. It’s time we held him accountable to his own words, to say there is no military response, therefore we shouldn’t use military methods against terrorism. It doesn’t work.
AMY GOODMAN: Phyllis Bennis, thanks so much for being with us, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. ... Read More →
Section 60: 2008 Film Captures Khizr & Ghazala Khan Mourning Son in Arlington National Cemetery
As Donald Trump continues to attack Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a Muslim U.S. soldier who died in Iraq, we turn to a side of the Khans few have seen. In 2008, the couple were filmed visiting the grave of their son in the HBO documentary "Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery." We air an excerpt and speak to filmmaker Jon Alpert.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: In news from the campaign trail, top Republicans and veterans groups are criticizing Donald Trump after he refused to back down from his comments attacking Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a Muslim U.S. soldier who died in Iraq. On Monday, Arizona Senator John McCain, who spent time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, wrote, quote, "I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates," unquote. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also publicly criticized Trump. None of the three, however, pulled their endorsement of Trump.
AMY GOODMAN: Khizr Khan’s son, Humayun Khan, was killed by a car bomb while serving in Iraq in 2004. He was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Trump’s attacks against Khizr Khan and his wife, Ghazala, began when Khan addressed the Democratic National Convention Thursday night.
KHIZR KHAN: Donald Trump, you’re asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the United States Constitution? I will—I will gladly lend you my copy.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: On Sunday, Trump responded to Khan while on ABC, implying Khan’s wife, Ghazala Khan, had not spoken at the convention because she was not allowed to as a Muslim woman.
DONALD TRUMP: I saw him. He was, you know, very emotional and probably looked like a nice guy to me. His wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably—maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me. But plenty of people have written that.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we turn now to a side of Khizr and Ghazala Khan few have seen. Years before they became the target of Donald Trump’s attack, the couple were filmed visiting the grave of their son, Captain Khan, in the HBO documentary Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery.
KHIZR KHAN: I’m father of Captain Humayun Khan. Humayun passed away in Baquba, Iraq, on June 8, 2004. We moved to United States 25 years ago and made it our home because of the opportunity and freedom of religion and freedom of expression.
GHAZALA KHAN: [reading prayer] God bless—God bless everybody, everyone here.
KHIZR KHAN: Prayer reminds us that we all are here with a purpose.
GHAZALA KHAN: I just miss him a lot, especially every day in the morning, every evening. Sorry.
AMY GOODMAN: Those are the Khans remembering their son, Captain Humayun Khan, who is buried at Arlington. That’s an excerpt of the HBO documentary Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery. And we’re joined now by the film’s co-director, Jon Alpert, the Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, Academy Award nominee.
Jon, talk about this moment. You spent months at Arlington.
JON ALPERT: I really appreciate the opportunity to share the dignity that we felt when we met the Khans. You can see their emotion, but their inclusiveness. When she says her prayer, she says the prayer is for everyone. They are among the most respected Gold Star parents of all the parents who have sacrificed their beloved in Arlington Cemetery. And I think that’s why there’s so much shock that anyone would attack them and the sacrifice of their family and their son.
AMY GOODMAN: How did you meet them?
JON ALPERT: We watched them come to the grave of their sons. As filmmakers, you want to rush up. You see a moment happening. But these are private moments. These are very emotional moments. And we held back, and then, afterwards, went up and introduced ourselves to the Khans and said we were making a movie about Section 60. Section 60 is called the saddest section of America, but it’s also the most honored section of America. And I recommend that anybody who goes to Washington go and visit Section 60.
AMY GOODMAN: What is it?
JON ALPERT: It’s where the dead from Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. In Arlington, there’s a general policy that you cannot adorn the graves, and the starkness of the tombstone speaks of the sacrifice of the people who have died for our country. But the parents and the relatives and the friends of people who have died in Section 60 don’t obey that rule. And you’ll go there, and you’ll see mementos, teddy bears, notes. And you’ll meet the parents, and you’ll talk to fine people like the Khans. And you’ll understand who are really good, strong Americans.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Jon, I think Donald Trump’s latest attack on the Khans is that Mr. Khan is a lawyer and is counseling more Muslims in how they can immigrate into the United States, and he was upset by the Trump prospect of a Trump ban on Muslims because of that.
JON ALPERT: Donald Trump is very creative with the insults that he comes up with. I think that you see the dignity that the Khans exude. They’ve been embracing our country for more than a decade, in terms of the way in which they tell people about their sacrifice and the sacrifice of all the families whose kids have died. But it’s shocking that he would do something like that. The Khans can speak well for themselves, and you can see Mrs. Khan can be quite eloquent.
AMY GOODMAN: You know, Gold Star families have come out with a statement. They’ve published a letter demanding Trump apologize for his statements about the Khans. The families, Gold Star families, are that have lost sons and daughters in Iraq and Afghanistan or in war. The letter reads, quote, "Your recent comments regarding the Khan family were repugnant, and personally offensive to us. When you question a mother’s pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us. When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice." And the Gold Star mother who spearheaded this letter said she would often pass the Khans at Section 60, that so many people know them at the cemetery.
JON ALPERT: Section 60 talks a lot about America. It talks about who pays the price when we go to war. And if people would like to see it, they can go to HBO GO or HBO NOW. There are many families that have made sacrifices like the Khans. Real patriots.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you, Jon, for sharing this video and the Khans with us.
JON ALPERT: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: Jon Alpert, co-director of the HBO film Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery. Jon Alpert is an Enemy Award-winning, Oscar-nominated filmmaker. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. ... Read More →
"Stop the Cops & Fund Black Futures": Voices from First Day of New York City Hall Park Occupation
On Monday, hundreds of activists gathered at New York City Hall demanding the defunding of the New York Police Department, the firing of New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and reparations for victims of police brutality. Democracy Now!’s Charina Nadura and Andre Lewis were at the park speaking to protesters.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn right now to the release of the new platform coming as Black Lives Matter protests continue nationwide following the police killings of African Americans Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. On Monday, hundreds of activists gathered here in New York City at City Hall demanding the defunding of the New York Police Department, the firing of the New York police commissioner, Bill Bratton, and reparations for victims of police brutality. Democracy Now!’s Charina Nadura and Andre Lewis were there.
PROTESTER 1: Fire Bill Bratton. For what? You fire Bill Bratton when executive leadership of a city agency is malfeasance.
VIENNA RYE: My name is Vienna Rye. I’m an organizer with Millions March NYC. And we are here today to demand that Bill Bratton be immediately fired, and broken windows policing ended, that reparations are paid to all victims and survivors of racist police brutality, and that the NYPD is defunded and that money is reinvested into black, brown and working-class communities.
PROTESTER 2: [echoed by the People’s Mic] We will not allow for it to continue!
PROTESTER 3: We’re here to stop the cops and fund black futures. We sincerely believe that a disinvestment in the NYPD, rather than investing $5.5 billion into a corrupt, racist police institution, and investing that money instead into our communities is a way that we can achieve freedom for our people.
NABIL HUSSEIN: My name is Nabil Hussein. I’m an organizer with Millions March NYC. There are so many ways that this money could be used besides—besides the NYPD. This money could be used for funding a system of mental health first responders, so that we would have someone to call other than the police when someone is having a mental health episode. There’s no reason to believe that introducing an element of deadly force is actually going to be something that improves the situation. This money could be used for building housing in the city. This money could be used for jobs, for—this money could be, honestly, for pretty much anything other than the police, the jails and the prisons.
PROTESTERS: Who do you serve? Who do you protect? Who do you serve? Who do you protect?
FRANCIS MARIE BRATHWAITE: My name is Francis Marie Brathwaite. Around, you say about—maybe about 10:30 or about 10:00, 10:30, you see a large police presence come towards the park, even though there was a presence there already, but not as large as it was just now. And around 11:00, they pulled the LRADs out. They gave us our first warning. And the funny thing is that while they’re all out there compiled, everybody else went into the park. They didn’t know what was going on. And that was the contingency plan, to come to this park here, which is a 24-hour space, open to the public. As long as we don’t violate any of the rules here, we’re fine. Well, for me, I’m an occupier. I know what these demands mean to the city, period. You know? And I feel like I need to be out here with my comrades, supporting them.
PROTESTERS: We gonna be all right! We gonna be all right!
FRANCIS MARIE BRATHWAITE: There’s things that need to be done that are not being done, and people are not being held accountable, and they need to be held accountable. So, I’m out here. I’m going to occupy for as long as it takes, until our demands [inaudible].
AMY GOODMAN: Voices of protest last night outside New York City Hall. Special thanks to Democracy Now!’s Charina Nadura and Andre Lewis.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, a side of Khizr and Ghazala Khan that you may not have seen anywhere yet, as they stand and grieve at their son Captain Khan’s grave in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery. Stay with us. ... Read More →
Headlines:
U.S. Military Announces Open-Ended Air Campaign Against ISIS in Libya
The U.S. military carried out two airstrikes in Libya against ISIS fighters in what it says will be an ongoing campaign. The strikes took place Monday in the city of Sirte. Pentagon officials said the campaign would continue until ISIS has been driven from the city, which it took over last year. The Pentagon said Libya’s Western-backed unity government, known as the GNA, requested the airstrikes. The so-called unity government is one of three competing governments that claim legitimacy in the country. This is Pentagon spokesperson Peter Cook.
Peter Cook: "The goal of GNA is to eliminate ISIL from Sirte and from the country. And we’ll be working closely with them, and they’ll be determining the pace and the success of this campaign, arguably. They will be—they have their forces on the ground conducting their efforts, and this will be in support of their efforts. ISIL’s numbers had been reduced. They had made significant progress in Sirte already, on their own. And we believe this can make a difference, hopefully in a short amount of time, and we’ll see."
The strikes come almost five years after the U.S. helped depose Muammar Gaddafi in a revolution that has devolved into civil war. Between 2011 and now, U.S. special forces have carried out raids in the country, and there have been airstrikes targeting specific individuals. We’ll have more on Libya with Phyllis Bennis later in the broadcast.
TOPICS:
Libya
Syria Activists: Area Where Helicopter Shot Down Attacked with Gas
In breaking news, Syrian activists say gas has been used near the northern Syrian city of Saraqib. Activists told Reuters they suspected the gas was chlorine and that it had affected more than 30 people. The alleged attack took place close to where rebels shot down a Russian helicopter earlier Monday. Syrian government forces have repeatedly been accused of using chemical munitions in the five-year war against rebels seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including during an attack in Damascus in 2013 that killed hundreds.
TOPICS:
Syria
Khans Respond to Trump Attacks as Republicans Distance Themselves
In news from the campaign trail, top Republicans and veterans groups are criticizing Donald Trump after he refused to back down from his comments attacking Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a Muslim U.S. soldier who died in Iraq. On Monday, Arizona Senator John McCain, who spent time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, wrote, "I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates." House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also publicly criticized Trump. None of the three, however, pulled their endorsement of Trump. Khan’s son, Humayun, was killed by a car bomb while serving in Baquba, Iraq, in 2004 and was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Trump’s battle with Khizr Khan began Thursday night, when Khan addressed the Democratic National Convention.
Khizr Khan: "Donald Trump, you’re asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy."
On Sunday, Trump responded to Khan while on ABC, implying Khan’s wife, Ghazala Khan, had not spoken at the convention because she was not allowed to as a Muslim woman.
Donald Trump: "I saw him. He was, you know, very emotional and probably looked like a nice guy to me. His wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably—maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me. But plenty of people have written that."
On Monday, Khizr Khan spoke on CNN.
Khizr Khan: "We want to maintain our dignity. We want to maintain my family’s dignity, my son’s dignity and sacrifice. And he should listen to America, what America and the world is telling about the remarks, about the lack of empathy. And that’s all I wish to convey to him, that a good leader has one trait, earlier, I said: empathy."
Later in the broadcast, we’ll bring you the comments of both Khizr and Ghazala Khan, a rare glimpse of them as they visit their son’s grave in Arlington National Cemetery.
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
2016 Election
Gold Star Families Publish Letter Calling Trump's Comments "Repugnant"
This comes as Gold Star families published a letter on Monday demanding Trump apologize for his statements to the Khans. Gold Star families are those that have lost loved ones serving in the U.S. military. The letter read: "Your recent comments regarding the Khan family were repugnant, and personally offensive to us. When you question a mother’s pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us. When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice." This comes as The New York Times is reporting Donald Trump received five deferments during the U.S. war in Vietnam.
TOPICS:
Military
Donald Trump
Mike Pence Defends Mother of Soldier Booed by His Supporters
Republican vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence had to defend the mother of a soldier from the crowd’s boos at one of his rallies Monday. The crowd booed Catherine Byrne, whose son serves in the U.S. Air Force, after Byrne asked Pence about Trump’s treatment of Muslim Gold Star parents the Khans.
Catherine Byrne: "My question for you, Mr. Pence, is, time and time again, Trump has disrespected our nation’s armed forces and veterans, and his disrespect for Mr. Khan and his family is just an example of that; will there ever be—will there ever be a point when you’re able to look at Trump in the eye and tell him enough is enough? You have a son in the military. How do you tolerate his disrespect?"
Gov. Mike Pence: "Well, I thank you for the question. It’s all right. It’s all right. Folks, that’s what—that’s what freedom looks like, and that’s what freedom sounds like."
TOPICS:
2016 Election
Trump on Sexual Harassment at Fox News: "Find Another Career"
In more campaign news, Donald Trump has said that if someone harassed his daughter Ivanka Trump the same way women have alleged former Fox News Chair Roger Ailes did to them, he "would like to think she would find another career or find another company if that was the case." Trump’s comments were published Monday inUSA Today. Trump has also defended Roger Ailes, whom he describes as a "very, very good person." Trump has said that if Ivanka weren’t his daughter, "perhaps I’d be dating her."
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
Billionaire Warren Buffett Endorses Clinton, Belittles Trump
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has endorsed Hillary Clinton and challenged Trump to release his tax returns. Buffett also ridiculed Trump’s business acumen, saying Trump had let down investors in his businesses.
Warren Buffett: "If a monkey had thrown a dart at the stock page, the monkey, on average, would have made 150 percent. But the people that believed in him, that listened to his siren song, came away losing well over 90 cents on the dollar. They got back less than a dime."
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
2016 Election
Jill Stein Chooses Human Rights Activist Ajamu Baraka as Running Mate
Presumptive Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein has chosen her vice-presidential running mate: human rights scholar and activist Ajamu Baraka. Baraka is presently a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. He is the founding executive director of the U.S. Human Rights Network. The Green Party’s presidential convention begins on Thursday in Houston, Texas.
TOPICS:
Green Party
2016 Election
Lawyers for Dylann Roof: Death Penalty Would Be "Cruel and Unusual"
Attorneys for accused killer Dylann Storm Roof have filed a motion arguing the death penalty would be an unconstitutional punishment for their client. In June of last year, Roof opened fire at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine black worshipers, including the pastor, Clementa Pinckney. Roof embraced white supremacist views and was shown in photographs posing with the Confederate flag. In a 30-page motion, Roof’s lawyers said the death penalty would constitute "cruel and unusual punishment," because federal prosecutors have refused to accept offers for Roof to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence without parole.
TOPICS:
Charleston Church Shooting
Movement for Black Lives Releases Sweeping Policy Platform
A coalition of groups in the Movement for Black Lives has called for reparations for slavery and criminal justice reforms in a sweeping policy platform released Monday. The platform’s six demands are broken down into about 40 policy recommendations touching on topics ranging from abolishing the death penalty to ensuring safe drinking water. Its release comes as nearly daily Black Lives Matter protests continue nationwide, following the police killings of African Americans Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. On Monday, hundreds of activists gathered at New York City Hall. This is Vienna Rye.
Vienna Rye: "We are here today to demand that Bill Bratton be immediately fired, and broken windows policing ended, that reparations are paid to all victims and survivors of racist police brutality, and that the NYPD is defunded and that money is reinvested into black, brown and working-class communities."
TOPICS:
Black Lives Matter
1 Million People Sign Petition to Remove Stanford Rape Case Judge
Activists have collected more than a million signatures on a petition calling for the impeachment of the judge in the Stanford rape case. In June, California Judge Aaron Persky gave Stanford swimmer Brock Allen Turner a six-month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Judge Persky said he was concerned a longer prison sentence would have a "severe impact" on Turner. Turner is white, and Judge Persky has since given a harsher sentence to a Latino man who committed a similar crime. This is one of the demonstrators who delivered the petition to Persky’s courthouse on Monday.
Demonstrator: "Basically what we’re focusing on is his bias. He has given lenient sentences to specific classes of people, and then, when faced with other classes of people, he’s given much harsher sentences."
TOPICS:
Sexual Assault
MA: First State to Ban Employers from Asking for Salary History
Massachusetts has passed a law intended to equalize pay between men and women. The law prohibits employers from asking prospective hires about their salary histories. It is the first of its kind in the U.S. Many employers require applicants to give a salary history during the initial steps of the hiring process. This disadvantages women, who make less than men on average.
TOPICS:
Labor
UT Austin Marks 50th Anniversary of Bell Tower Mass Shooting
And bells in the tower at the University of Texas at Austin rang at precisely 11:40 a.m. Monday to mark the 50th anniversary of a mass shooting there. On August 1, 1966, UT engineering student and Marine veteran Charles Whitman opened fire from atop the university clock tower. His rampage on campus killed 14 people. Hours earlier, he had also killed his wife and mother, leaving behind a note that read "both dead." A 17th victim of his shooting rampage died decades later as a result of injuries sustained in the attack. At the time, the UT Austin massacre was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. This year is the first time the university has officially marked the date. This comes as, also on Monday, a new concealed carry law went into effect in Texas, allowing license holders to legally carry guns on campus and inside university buildings for the first time.
TOPICS:
Gun Control
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COLUMN
U.S. Military Announces Open-Ended Air Campaign Against ISIS in Libya
The U.S. military carried out two airstrikes in Libya against ISIS fighters in what it says will be an ongoing campaign. The strikes took place Monday in the city of Sirte. Pentagon officials said the campaign would continue until ISIS has been driven from the city, which it took over last year. The Pentagon said Libya’s Western-backed unity government, known as the GNA, requested the airstrikes. The so-called unity government is one of three competing governments that claim legitimacy in the country. This is Pentagon spokesperson Peter Cook.
Peter Cook: "The goal of GNA is to eliminate ISIL from Sirte and from the country. And we’ll be working closely with them, and they’ll be determining the pace and the success of this campaign, arguably. They will be—they have their forces on the ground conducting their efforts, and this will be in support of their efforts. ISIL’s numbers had been reduced. They had made significant progress in Sirte already, on their own. And we believe this can make a difference, hopefully in a short amount of time, and we’ll see."
The strikes come almost five years after the U.S. helped depose Muammar Gaddafi in a revolution that has devolved into civil war. Between 2011 and now, U.S. special forces have carried out raids in the country, and there have been airstrikes targeting specific individuals. We’ll have more on Libya with Phyllis Bennis later in the broadcast.
TOPICS:
Libya
Syria Activists: Area Where Helicopter Shot Down Attacked with Gas
In breaking news, Syrian activists say gas has been used near the northern Syrian city of Saraqib. Activists told Reuters they suspected the gas was chlorine and that it had affected more than 30 people. The alleged attack took place close to where rebels shot down a Russian helicopter earlier Monday. Syrian government forces have repeatedly been accused of using chemical munitions in the five-year war against rebels seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including during an attack in Damascus in 2013 that killed hundreds.
TOPICS:
Syria
Khans Respond to Trump Attacks as Republicans Distance Themselves
In news from the campaign trail, top Republicans and veterans groups are criticizing Donald Trump after he refused to back down from his comments attacking Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a Muslim U.S. soldier who died in Iraq. On Monday, Arizona Senator John McCain, who spent time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, wrote, "I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates." House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also publicly criticized Trump. None of the three, however, pulled their endorsement of Trump. Khan’s son, Humayun, was killed by a car bomb while serving in Baquba, Iraq, in 2004 and was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Trump’s battle with Khizr Khan began Thursday night, when Khan addressed the Democratic National Convention.
Khizr Khan: "Donald Trump, you’re asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy."
On Sunday, Trump responded to Khan while on ABC, implying Khan’s wife, Ghazala Khan, had not spoken at the convention because she was not allowed to as a Muslim woman.
Donald Trump: "I saw him. He was, you know, very emotional and probably looked like a nice guy to me. His wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably—maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me. But plenty of people have written that."
On Monday, Khizr Khan spoke on CNN.
Khizr Khan: "We want to maintain our dignity. We want to maintain my family’s dignity, my son’s dignity and sacrifice. And he should listen to America, what America and the world is telling about the remarks, about the lack of empathy. And that’s all I wish to convey to him, that a good leader has one trait, earlier, I said: empathy."
Later in the broadcast, we’ll bring you the comments of both Khizr and Ghazala Khan, a rare glimpse of them as they visit their son’s grave in Arlington National Cemetery.
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
2016 Election
Gold Star Families Publish Letter Calling Trump's Comments "Repugnant"
This comes as Gold Star families published a letter on Monday demanding Trump apologize for his statements to the Khans. Gold Star families are those that have lost loved ones serving in the U.S. military. The letter read: "Your recent comments regarding the Khan family were repugnant, and personally offensive to us. When you question a mother’s pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us. When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice." This comes as The New York Times is reporting Donald Trump received five deferments during the U.S. war in Vietnam.
TOPICS:
Military
Donald Trump
Mike Pence Defends Mother of Soldier Booed by His Supporters
Republican vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence had to defend the mother of a soldier from the crowd’s boos at one of his rallies Monday. The crowd booed Catherine Byrne, whose son serves in the U.S. Air Force, after Byrne asked Pence about Trump’s treatment of Muslim Gold Star parents the Khans.
Catherine Byrne: "My question for you, Mr. Pence, is, time and time again, Trump has disrespected our nation’s armed forces and veterans, and his disrespect for Mr. Khan and his family is just an example of that; will there ever be—will there ever be a point when you’re able to look at Trump in the eye and tell him enough is enough? You have a son in the military. How do you tolerate his disrespect?"
Gov. Mike Pence: "Well, I thank you for the question. It’s all right. It’s all right. Folks, that’s what—that’s what freedom looks like, and that’s what freedom sounds like."
TOPICS:
2016 Election
Trump on Sexual Harassment at Fox News: "Find Another Career"
In more campaign news, Donald Trump has said that if someone harassed his daughter Ivanka Trump the same way women have alleged former Fox News Chair Roger Ailes did to them, he "would like to think she would find another career or find another company if that was the case." Trump’s comments were published Monday inUSA Today. Trump has also defended Roger Ailes, whom he describes as a "very, very good person." Trump has said that if Ivanka weren’t his daughter, "perhaps I’d be dating her."
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
Billionaire Warren Buffett Endorses Clinton, Belittles Trump
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has endorsed Hillary Clinton and challenged Trump to release his tax returns. Buffett also ridiculed Trump’s business acumen, saying Trump had let down investors in his businesses.
Warren Buffett: "If a monkey had thrown a dart at the stock page, the monkey, on average, would have made 150 percent. But the people that believed in him, that listened to his siren song, came away losing well over 90 cents on the dollar. They got back less than a dime."
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
2016 Election
Jill Stein Chooses Human Rights Activist Ajamu Baraka as Running Mate
Presumptive Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein has chosen her vice-presidential running mate: human rights scholar and activist Ajamu Baraka. Baraka is presently a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. He is the founding executive director of the U.S. Human Rights Network. The Green Party’s presidential convention begins on Thursday in Houston, Texas.
TOPICS:
Green Party
2016 Election
Lawyers for Dylann Roof: Death Penalty Would Be "Cruel and Unusual"
Attorneys for accused killer Dylann Storm Roof have filed a motion arguing the death penalty would be an unconstitutional punishment for their client. In June of last year, Roof opened fire at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine black worshipers, including the pastor, Clementa Pinckney. Roof embraced white supremacist views and was shown in photographs posing with the Confederate flag. In a 30-page motion, Roof’s lawyers said the death penalty would constitute "cruel and unusual punishment," because federal prosecutors have refused to accept offers for Roof to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence without parole.
TOPICS:
Charleston Church Shooting
Movement for Black Lives Releases Sweeping Policy Platform
A coalition of groups in the Movement for Black Lives has called for reparations for slavery and criminal justice reforms in a sweeping policy platform released Monday. The platform’s six demands are broken down into about 40 policy recommendations touching on topics ranging from abolishing the death penalty to ensuring safe drinking water. Its release comes as nearly daily Black Lives Matter protests continue nationwide, following the police killings of African Americans Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. On Monday, hundreds of activists gathered at New York City Hall. This is Vienna Rye.
Vienna Rye: "We are here today to demand that Bill Bratton be immediately fired, and broken windows policing ended, that reparations are paid to all victims and survivors of racist police brutality, and that the NYPD is defunded and that money is reinvested into black, brown and working-class communities."
TOPICS:
Black Lives Matter
1 Million People Sign Petition to Remove Stanford Rape Case Judge
Activists have collected more than a million signatures on a petition calling for the impeachment of the judge in the Stanford rape case. In June, California Judge Aaron Persky gave Stanford swimmer Brock Allen Turner a six-month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Judge Persky said he was concerned a longer prison sentence would have a "severe impact" on Turner. Turner is white, and Judge Persky has since given a harsher sentence to a Latino man who committed a similar crime. This is one of the demonstrators who delivered the petition to Persky’s courthouse on Monday.
Demonstrator: "Basically what we’re focusing on is his bias. He has given lenient sentences to specific classes of people, and then, when faced with other classes of people, he’s given much harsher sentences."
TOPICS:
Sexual Assault
MA: First State to Ban Employers from Asking for Salary History
Massachusetts has passed a law intended to equalize pay between men and women. The law prohibits employers from asking prospective hires about their salary histories. It is the first of its kind in the U.S. Many employers require applicants to give a salary history during the initial steps of the hiring process. This disadvantages women, who make less than men on average.
TOPICS:
Labor
UT Austin Marks 50th Anniversary of Bell Tower Mass Shooting
And bells in the tower at the University of Texas at Austin rang at precisely 11:40 a.m. Monday to mark the 50th anniversary of a mass shooting there. On August 1, 1966, UT engineering student and Marine veteran Charles Whitman opened fire from atop the university clock tower. His rampage on campus killed 14 people. Hours earlier, he had also killed his wife and mother, leaving behind a note that read "both dead." A 17th victim of his shooting rampage died decades later as a result of injuries sustained in the attack. At the time, the UT Austin massacre was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. This year is the first time the university has officially marked the date. This comes as, also on Monday, a new concealed carry law went into effect in Texas, allowing license holders to legally carry guns on campus and inside university buildings for the first time.
TOPICS:
Gun Control
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COLUMN
Sanders Supporters Say DNC's Treatment of Surrogate Nina Turner Makes Calls for Unity "Fall Flat"
NEW BOOK
Congressman Elijah Cummings on Freddie Gray Case: I'm for Accountability, Not Against Police
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