10/06/16 10/06/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >pres. obama: i want to emphasie to the american public, this is a serious storm. it has already hit haiti with devastating effect and in the process of moving to the bas. because it is not goin b ttghand, its one to be ng strength on its flori amy: states of emergency have been declared in florida, georgia, and the carolinas as hurricane matthew barrels towards the southeast. more than 2 million people have been ued to evacuate their homes ahead of what could be the strongest hurricane to hit the

united states in over a decade. the record-breaking storm has are ready killed at least 26 people in haiti, four in the dominican republic. we will get the latest and look at how climate change is fueling stronger hurricanes. when will tv meteorologists talk about climate change? then to "america divided." >> you can be here because you cannot pay the bond. hundredve a couple of people in our jail that could walk out if they had $500. people are here because they are poor. it is a perpetual cycle. amy: what do rosario dawson, common, peter sarsgaard, america ferrera, and zach galifianakis have in common? they have teamed up for a new tv series "america divided," which explores inequality in education, housing, labor, criminal justice, and the political system. we will air excerpts and speak with the co-creators of the

series. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. states of emergency have been declared in florida, georgia, the carolinas as hurricane matthew barrels towards the southeast coastline. more than 2 million people have been urged to evacuate their homes. the record-breaking storm has already killed at least 26 people in haiti, four in the dominican republic. the storm is expected to soon hit the bahamas and strengthened to a category 4 as it moves toward florida. meteorologists predicting matthew could be the strong is turkey to hit the u.s. wilma in 2005. hurricane matthew was the first category 4 to hit haiti and over half a century. the storm displaced thousands across haiti, still recovering from the devastating 2010 earthquake. haiti's presidential election scheduled for sunday has been

postponed indefinitely. many meteorologists are saying climate change has intensified hurricane matthew because warmer ocean waters helped create stronger hurricanes. we will have more on hurricane matthew after headlines. the fbi says the agency secretly arrested a former nsa contractor from the company booz allen hamilton in august after he allegedly stole highly classified nsa computer codes. the contractor, harold martin, has been charged with theft and unauthorized removal or retention of classified documents. he worked for the same company, booz allen hamilton, as nsa whistle blower edward snowden. the s. government claims he had thousands of pages of classified documents on his home computers. the u.s. government does not know whether martin has leaked the information or given it to other governments or entities. meanwhile, multiple anonymous government officials have confirmed yahoo secretly scanned

the contents of hundreds of millions of e-mail accounts and turned the information over to the nsa or fbi. the justice department obtained a secret fisa court order, that's a foreign intelligence surveillance court order, for the information last year. to comply, yahoo redesigned a software program, allowing it to search every users e-mails for a computer signature provided by the u.s. government. in news from the campaign trail, cnn has uncovered at least two more softcore pornographic videos that donald trump appeared in in addition to the 2000 playboy soft-core porno revealed last week. in these newly uncovered videos from 1994 and 2001, trump appears fully clothed interviewing a potential playboy model and photographing other clothed models. meanwhile, greenpeace has revealed that donald trump has multiple financial ties to the $3.8 billion dakota access pipeline, which has faced months of resistance from the standing rock sioux tribe in north dakota

and members of hundreds of other tribes from across the u.s., canada, and latin america. one of trump's financial disclosure forms shows he has between $500,000 and $1 million invested in energy transfer partners, the company building -- the main company behind the dakota access pipeline. trump also has $50,000 to $100,000 invested in phillips 66, which is slated to own 25% of the pipeline if it is completed. this revelations come standing rock sioux tribal chairman dave archambault testified in front of three federal appeals court judges in d.c. on wednesday in a lawsuit seeking an emergency injunction to stop construction of the dakota access pipeline over concerns it could destroy sacred sites and burial grounds. the court is not expected to issue a ruling from once. meanwhile in what is on the struggle to stop the dakota access pipeline, the lead county attorney's office in southeast iowa is threatening to evict

land offenders from a permanent encampment established to stop the dakota access pipeline company from boring under the mississippi river. the threatened eviction is slated for today. it has been a site of a series of protests in which dozens of people have been arrested blocking pipeline construction over the past two months. colombian president juan manuel santos has announced the ceasefire between the government and the farc will end at the end of october following the shocking results of sunday's nationwide referendum in which voters narrowly rejected the peace deal. the outcome now threatens to prolong the nation's 52-year-old civil war. this comes as thousands of students gathered in bogota for a silent peace march. this is carlos filipo. >> we are asking that the peace process be sped up. what has been accomplished has been fragile. as we saw with the news yesterday, the bilateral cease-fire is already not definite. we want that is not politicized. peace for the citizens of

columbia, not a political party. not for the president. not for the ex-president, but for all colombians because we students are another political force. amy: a flotilla bound for gaza carrying food, medicine and other humanitarian aid was intercepted and seized by the israeli navy wednesday. the women's boat to gaza had set sail from the spanish port city of barcelona in mid-september in efforts to break the ongoing israeli blockade. organizers say the israeli military seized the boat and detained the 13 human rights activists aboard in international waters about 40 miles away from gaza's port. organizers are now calling for the release of both the activists and the boat and an end to the ongoing blockade. within hours of the boat's seizure, israel also launched airstrikes into the gaza strip, which israel says was in retaliation for a rocket launched from gaza. this comes as israel has

approved the construction of 300 new settlement homes far into the israeli-occupied west bank. the white house criticized israel over the plan, saying it was betrayal of trust. the approval comes only weeks after the u.s. approved a new military aid package to israel of $38 billion over 10 years -- the largest military funding package the u.s. has ever offered to any nation. in poland, lawmakers have abruptly reversed their position on a proposal total abortion -- proposed total abortion ban, after as many as six million polish women poured into the streets across the country in a mass protest monday. the proposed legislation would make all abortions illegal and punishable by up to five years in prison for patients who obtain them. doctors could also be jailed for providing abortions. the united nations is calling for an independent investigation -- the united nations' international court of justice has rejected the marshall islands' bid to sue the united states and eight other nuclear powers for violating the 1968

nuclear nonproliferation treaty. the marshall islands chain, which includes bikini atoll, was the subject of 67 nuclear tests in the 1940's and 1950's, which have left lasting health and environmental impacts. the pacific island nation filed the suit in 2014, but it was rejected wednesday after the court said it did not have jurisdiction over the case. the united nations is calling for an independent investigation into a u.s. drone strike in afghanistan in september, which the u.n. says killed at least 15 civilians and wounded 13 more. u.s. officials say the strike was targeting isis militants, but the u.n. assistance mission in afghanistan says it killed a teacher, students, a teacher, and members of a family that supports the u.s.-backed afghan government. disturbing new video footage shows multiple guards at a for-profit jail on the border between texas and arkansas pinning down an african american father and pepper spraying him as he cries repeatedly, "i can't

breathe." 35-year-old michael sabbie died in a jail cell only hours after the attack, which took place in july of 2015. this is video surveillance footage of the attack. listen carefully. and a note for our tv audience, the video is disturbing. >> i can't breathe. i can't breathe. >> do your hands behind your back. amy: despite the attack, a medical examiner ruled that sabbie died of natural causes. he had been arrested three days earlier after a domestic dispute with his wife. the bi state jail in which he died is run by the for-profit company lasalle corrections. sabbie was one of one of more

than 800 people who died in jail across the united states in 2015. civil rights groups and the asian american journalists association are criticizing fox news for a racist segment on the "the o'reilly factor," in which fox correspondent jesse watters went to new york city's chinatown and asked residents everything from who they'd be voting for in the presidential election to whether they knew karate. here's a clip of the video. >> is everything made in china now? >> that everything. >> to me what is not made in china. >> i can't think of it right now. >> me, neither. is china america's friend or enemy? >> china and america? friends. >> can you guys take care of north korea for us? >> that is too much. security council has announced it has chosen antonio guterres

to secede ban ki-moon as u.n. secretary general. antonio guterres is from portugal. he led the u.n. refugee agency for a decade. the security council will formally vote on his election today, and then he'll face a full u.n. general assembly election as early as next week. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. states of emergencies have been declared in florida, georgia, and the carolinas as hurricane matthew barrels towards the southeast coastline. more than 2 million people have been urged to evacuate their homes. the record-breaking storm has already killed at least 26 people in haiti and four in the dominican republic. the storm is expected to soon hit the bahamas and then strengthen as it moves towards florida. meteorologists are predicting matthew could be the strongest hurricane to hit the united states since wilma in 2005. on thursday, president obama

urged residents in the southeast to take precautions. pres. obama: i want to emphasize to the public this is a serious storm. it has already hit haiti with devastating effect. it is now in the process of moving through the bahamas. because it is not going to be hitting enough land, it is going to be building strength on its way to florida. we anticipate that by tomorrow morning, it will already begin to have significant effect in florida and then has the potential to strengthen and move on up the coast during the course of the day. amy: hurricane matthew was the first category 4 hurricane to hit haiti in 52 years. the storm displaced thousands across haiti still recovering from the devastating 2010 earthquake. the storm also knocked out most communications across haiti and flooded a major bridge connecting southern haiti to the rest of the country. the united nations has warned

the hurricane poses the greatest humanitarian threat to haiti since the earthquake six years ago. haiti's presidential election scheduled for sunday has been postponed indefinitely. nermeen: many meteorologists are saying climate change has helped -- intensified hurricane matthew because warmer ocean waters help create stronger hurricanes. matthew is already the longest lived category 4 or 5 hurricane in the eastern caribbean on record. amy: to talk more about hurricane matthew and climate change, we are joined by two guests. in philadelphia, michael mann is a distinguished professor of atmospheric science at penn state university. his latest book co-authored with cartoonist tom toles is titled, "the madhouse effect: how climate change denial is threatening our planet, destroying our politics, and driving us crazy." michael mann is also author of "the hockey stick and the climate wars: dispatches from the front lines." and here in new york, we're joined by oliver milman, environmental reporter at the guardian.

his new piece is titled, "hurricanes will worsen as planet warms and sea levels rise, scientists warn." let's begin with michael mann. i have been watching tv, nonstop coverage of the hurricane that is barreling up through the southeast, just having left carnage in its wake in the dominican republic and haiti. there is interview after interview, extreme weather science flashing on the tv, but the two words i do not hear discussed are "climate change." today on cnn as there were talking to the head of the national hurricane center's, they said, as their anything else you want to share with the american people? where is the discussion of climate change, michael mann, and what is the connection between us hurricane matthew and climate change? >> thanks, amy. it is unfortunate that some in the weather community are not

providing a critical context for understanding this trend towards increasingly devastating tropical storms and hurricanes. matthew is a very good example of a storm that was unique and unprecedented in certain respects. it intensified far more quickly than any other storm that we have seen in modern history. basically, going from not even a tropical depression to a near hurricane strength storm over the course of camino, less than half a day. and the next day, of course, strengthening into a major .urricane, category 5 it is weaken a little bit, but his re-strengthen and. and where that intensification, where that rapid intensification occurred was in the region of the caribbean that has the greatest heat content. not just that the ocean service

to butchers are warm, but there's a deep layer of warm water and that is important because that helps sustain the storms as they turn up the ocean. the turning does not bring cold water to the surface to weaken the storm if there is a deep layer of warmth. that all has a climate change signature with it, not just the fact that the ocean surface temperatures in the caribbean are at near record levels, but just the sheer depth of that warm water is unprecedented. as the surface warming penetrates into the ocean, we are seeing increases in ocean heat content. last year was the warmest our oceans have ever been on record. and that is critical. it is that warm that provides the energy that intensifies these storms. it is not a coincidence we is in the strongest hurricane in both hemispheres within the last year. nermeen: oliver milman, can you

talk about the fact that some governors in the u.s. have declared states of emergency and how likely that is to be effective as a means of protecting the devastation that is being anticipated? >> states of emergency, florida up to the carolinas, about 2 million people as you mentioned before being urged to evacuate. barrier islands on east coast of florida have already been completely evacuated now. rick scott, the governor of florida, has said the state is expected to get a direct hit -- although, the national hurricane center said the path will run close to florida. not sure exactly how hard florida will be hit. it is one of the most significant hurricanes to hit the u.s. in many years. amy: what do you make of the coverage? that is how people learn about hurricanes like this. >> sure. i would concur with what you and

michael said on the coverage. it has been fairly abysmal, really. if you look at the link between extreme weather and climate change, it just isn't articulated regularly, especially by cable tv. think comels i online and in print, there are some media that are exploring the link and have done so quite eloquently. channels,nly, most tv that is fairly absent. amy: michael mann, your book " "the madhouse effect: how climate change denial is threatening our planet, destroying our politics, and driving us crazy," talk about who the climate deniers are in the effect it has on science and public understanding and what we need to do right now as we face this catastrophe. >> so there has been a decades long campaign by fossil fuel interests and politicians who are -- earn their pay, front

groups, all of which exist essentially for no other purpose than to confuse the public and policymakers about climate change, to convince the public and policymakers that the scientific -- that there is no scientific consensus. the forces of denial, again, most of them are funded or tied in some way to fossil fuel interests, understand that all they need to do is divide the public and confuse the public about this issue to prevent progress from taking place. i want to actually draw upon something that joliver mentioned. gov. rick scott of florida has received quite a bit of funding from the koch brothers over the years. he is a climate change denial. here you have a state on the front lines of dealing with the impacts of climate change and not just because of the possibility of more extreme weather events, more intense

underanes, a trend we see trend we know is related to climate change. but you combine these intensifying storms with the rising sea level and forgive the pun, you get a perfect storm of consequences for coastal flooding. we will see exceptional coastal flooding associated with matthew, not just because of the intensity of the storm, but because of the fact that sea level rise has added substantially to the impact of storms like matthew. so there is this amazing hypocrisy, which we explore in the book, when it comes to politicians like rick scott are almost literally burying their heads in the sand when it comes to technology and wreck rising -- acknowledging and recognizing the impacts of climate change. ironically, the city of miami is dealing with this problem already. they are spending millions of dollars building pumps to help pump out the seawater as it encourages upon miami beach.

they're dealing with the impact of climate change on a regular basis and yet their gov. rick scott actually tried to outlaw any discussion of climate change or global warming in state related business. so there is this amazing disconnect. and we do find ourselves in a madhouse, quite literally, when it comes to dealing with climate change deniers like rick scott and many other politicians who are essentially acting as agent for the fossil fuel industry rather than representing our own interests. we can change that if people vote in november, vote climate -- not just at the top of the ticket, but all the way down. the only way this will change is if we elect politicians who are willing to represent our interests rather than the ofcial interest that fund these campaigns. amy: we're going to talk about top of the ticket in a moment. we're speaking with michael mann . his new book is "the madhouse , effect: how climate change denial is threatening our planet, destroying our politics, and driving us crazy."

and oliver milman, who writes for the guardian u.s. about climate change. we will talk about the top of the ticket and climate denial dustup we will talk about the debates, how the last debate that just took place this week, the only vice presidential debate, not one question asked on climate change as hurricane matthew was smashing haiti on its way to the u.s. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. states of emergencies have been declared in florida, georgia, and the carolinas as hurricane matthew barrels towards the southeast coastline. more than 2 million people have been urged to evacuate their homes. many climate scientists are saying climate change has intensified hurricane matthew

because warmer ocean water helps create stronger hurricanes. during last week's first presidential debate between donald trump and hillary clinton, moderator lester holt did not ask about climate change but it came up once during a brief exchange. mrs. clinton: sun country is going to be the superpower of the first country. donald thinks climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the chinese. i think it is real. mr. trump: i do not say that. i do not say that. mrs. clinton: we grip this and deal with it, both at home and abroad. that is hillary clinton last week at the presidential debate. she references trump talking about climate change as a hoax, which he subsequently denied. a hoax he said designed by china to undermine the u.s. economy. you have said that, michael mann , trump is "a threat the planet."

could you talk about the way climate change has figured in this presidential election and your comments on trump? >> sure. it is unfortunate, as you folks have alluded to, that despite constituting perhaps the greatest challenge we face as a civilization, climate change, there has been no question about climate change thus far in the debates. we are two down, two to go. we will see if it enters into the discussion and one of the subsequent debates. it is literally the greatest challenge and threat facing human syllabus -- civilization. for the moderators to not ask a single question about climate change is indefensible and it is conspicuous. it is interesting in that exchange, you heard donald trump say he did not say that. it is true, he did not a that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the chinese. he tweeted it. that is his primary mode of

communication. in fact, he is tweeted at least a half-dozen times various climate change, standard climate change denial talking points. the problem is not just trump. you have in his first presidential candidate, somebody who is also on record denying climate change. so it is a climate change denial dream team. donald trump -- amy: let's go to donald trump appearing on hugh hewitt show and was asked about global warming. >> do you believe the temperature of the earth is increasing and what would you do if you do believe that, vis-a-vis, global climate change? mr. trump: first of all, i'm not a believer in global warming or man-made global warming. it could be warming and it is going to start to cool at some point. in the 1920's, people talked about global cooling. they thought the earth was cooling. now it is global warming. actually, we have had times where the weather was not working out, so they change it

to extreme weather, have all different names so that it fits the bill. amy: in december, donald trump was asked a similar question by bill o'reilly on fox news. >> do you believe in global warming, climate change? do you think the world is going to change for the worst because it is getting warmer? mr. trump: i think that there will be little change here. cooler,go up, get warmer, like it has for millions of years. it will get cooler, warmer. it is called weather. a lot of people don't know this, i have received many environmental awards, many, many in our mental awards for the work i do -- environmental awards for the work i do. i believe in clean air. i think it is a big scam for a lot of people to make a big scam. amy: and in 2012, donald trump tweeted -- "the concept of global warming was created by and for the chinese in order to make u.s. manufacturing non-competitive." oliver milman, as we go through these clips of the man who to be

president, to be elected in just five weeks. >> this is really the defining issue of our age, the media, all politicians focusing on climate change as a top priority. he said is some kind of niche sideshow to what they should be talking about. i mean, as recently as 2008, you had two presidential candidates who accepted by the change is real. both accepted there needs to be some kind of price on carbon. john mccain and barack obama. since then, we have seen one set of politics dissent into climate denial is an to the extent it is called a hoax dreamed up by the chinese. it is quite worrying. amy: you have haiti canceling the election on sunday indefinitely because of this storm.

some were saying the peace deal in columbia that was just voted down by just a sliver may well have been deeply affected by climate change because of the weather in columbia that caused so many people not to go out and vote. how, michael mann, this affects global politics, not to mention refugees, the largest number of refugees we have seen since world war ii, how climate change ways into this, whether or not presidential candidates believe it or whether or not leading tv personalities who are moderating these debates even raise it? >> you know, a great science communicator has put it well. he says, the wonderful thing about science is that it doesn't matter whether or not you believe it, it is still true. so while politicians like donald trump can say they don't believe in climate change, they are not

entitled to their own facts. the facts are in. there's a widespread consensus among world scientists that it is real, caused by human activity. it is already causing a lot of problems. it will cost far more problems if we don't do anything about it. you allude to the repercussions the national security of conflict repercussions of climate change, the syrian uprising was fundamentally related to a drought and it has an implications -- had implications worldwide for instability, political instability. as a growing global population, 7 billion may be reaching 9 billion, possibly 11 billion by later this century, you have a growing global population competing for less food, less water, and less land as a result of climate change. and that is, to use the term again, it is a perfect storm of consequences for instability, for conflict.

it is for reasons like that and the fact that many of the poorest nations like haiti are feeling the worst impacts, have the least adaptive capacity, the least resilience to deal with impacts like this, this is going to create -- climate change impacts is going to create mass migration from regions that are no longer livable. that means once again, more people in the remaining areas competing for resources. it is a national security and conflict nightmare. in our armed forces, national security community here in the u.s., has recognized climate change is the greatest threat we face in years ahead. so while politicians like donald trump are denying it even exists , our national security leaders recognize that this is actually the greatest threat that we face in the decades ahead from a

national security standpoint because it means more conflict and conflict to global chaos and instability. , despitemichael mann what you said about the scientific consensus of what the national security leaders in this country say, a report by uk-based research group which surveyed 20 countries, including china and india, found the united states had more climate change deniers among the respondents than any other country. so what do you think accounts for that? >> well, what other countries where we have the most powerful and entrenched fossil fuel companies and corporations? -- and thatstralia is where we see the most rampant climate change. it is not coincidental. fossil fuel interests are doing what tobacco interest to decades ago. they had manufactured a campaign of misinformation and disinformation to confuse the public and policymakers from

asking. in the case of tobacco, we know that millions of people died because the tobacco industry did the adverse health impacts of their product. with climate change, many more people will suffer and parish if we do not act. in some ways, the campaign by fossil fuel interests to confuse the public about the reality and threat of climate change is an even greater crime against -- you could say humanity or the planet, it is literally a crime against the planet. we need to make sure that they are answerable for the disinformation campaign they have run. they have set us back to its. if we had acted on this problem when exxonmobil's own internal documents in the 1970's revealed they recognize -- this is their own words -- they recognize the impacts of climate change could be catastrophic. these are in their own internal documents from the 1970's. but what did exxonmobil do in the subsequent decades? they spent tens of millions of

dollars on a disinformation campaign to deny the reality of climate change. we cannot allow that. we have to move on. we have to hold that actors accountable and move on to the worthy debate, which is what we should be doing in congress, how to solve this problem. what are the mechanisms to decrease our carbon emission and transition to renewable energy? there's a worthy political debate between progressives and conservatives to be had about that topic, that there is no worthy debate to be had about whether the threat exists. we have to get past that. in november, we may have an opportunity to try to get past that by electing leaders who will act on climate. and it's on wednesday, president obama announced a threshold had been passed for the ratification of the paris agreement to combat climate change. he held it as a historic day for protecting the planet. pres. obama: today, the world has officially crossed the threshold for the paris

agreement to take effect. today the world meets the moment. if we foll through on the commitments that this cares agreement embodies, history may well judge it as a turning point for our planet. the paris agreement alone will not all the climate crisis. even if we meet every target embodied in the agreement, we will only get to part of where we need to go. but make no mistake, this agreement will help delay or avoid some of the worst consequences of climate change. , your finalmilman comment on the significance of this and put a new president in the united states under the paris accord? >> sure. yet the biggest leaders in the world ratifying the paris deal, meaning that committed to emission cuts, u.s., china, india, so one, uk and european union. in terms of the cuts, they need to be far more ambitious to get us to work -- to what the paris

accord set out. and rapid transformation toward clean energy is required in terms of undoing it, trump has promised to exit the u.s. from the paris deal. that will be possible for the next four years because the u.s. is locked into the ratification. regardless of that, the michigan at speed to be far steeper of the world is going to avoid the kind of dangerous change we're seeing examples of hurricane matthew and others. amy: we will leave it there. oliver milman, a few for being with us. michael mann, congratulations on your new book "the madhouse , effect: how climate change denial is threatening our planet, destroying our politics, and driving us crazy." stay with us, folks. ♪ [music break]

amy: "too hot to handle" by heatwave. songwriter/producer rod temperton died last week at the age of 66. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: what do rosario dawson, common, peter sarsgaard, america ferrera having common? with the presidential election less than five weeks away, that all teamed up for a new television series "america divided," which exports inequality in the united states. >> mine in his rosario dawson. i'm being interviewed about the water crisis and i would love to speak to governor snyder. >> america is in crisis. >> did we invest in those

communities? no, we declared war. >> there's a darker element to control the uneducated and the poor. >> our society, afraid. our economy, blitzed. >> i don't feel the young people have the feeling they have that chance. we inherited a promise of justice, democracy, equality under the law. but we live in an america divided. >> this is america. equal opportunity. nobody has a right to have our communities under siege not people live in fear -- and our people live in fear. >> communities do not feel safe. what about people who say, that is not our problem? why don't the governments of those countries deal with it? they getch guys,

money. they could to hire the lower income. where is the middle people? >> this bill is taking control away for him how you can operate your business. so it is about money. >> what is the moment you started to see an effect that there might be something wrong? >> they're completely different kids. he can't get out of bed. 900 to 2100go from and one leap. >> i want heroin right now, where do i go? >> take a left and go up the street to the first gas station and stand there. is a school resource officer coming up to have a desire and love to work with young people. >> you of a gun, some kind of mace. that is pretty alarming. >> the way things are working

are working at all. >> it is time to cut through the noise, and cover the root of the problem and how it affects us all. one in a generation for a real conversation the cuts to the heart of who we are as a nation. >> keep pushing. keep trying. if you refuse to let the nightmare have the last say. out and you come will be in a brand-new day. >> conversation starts now. nermeen: that is the trailer for the new five-part series "america divided." the show follows high-profile correspondents as they explore aspects of inequality in education, housing, healthcare, labor, the criminal justice system and the political system. , oscar-winning hip-hop artist common returns to his hometown of chicago to examine disparities in the criminal justice system.

actress rosario dawson travels to flint, michigan, to investigate the man-made disaster behind the city's water crisis. and legendary tv producer norman lear investigates gentrification and displacement in new york city and goes undercover to expose racial discrimination in housing. amy: for more on this groundbreaking series, we are joined in our studio by the three creators of "america divided," rick rowley, solly granatstein, and lucian read. we welcome you all to democracy now! overallalk about the concept and we will quickly go through the clips of the different media personalities, actors, they delve into these critical issues. >> we felt like the country is really at a crisis point when it comes to inequality. the fruits of the economic recovery were going, as we all to most the 1% and not of the people. we wanted to examine different

aspects of inequality of people's daily lives. so we went to different parts of the country, each one explored different aspects of inequality. and each of these stories was presented and explored the high-profile correspondent who ee intove their own entr the different stories. you have jesse williams, for instance, who used to be a high school teacher exploring a story about segregation in education -- amy: before you start in "grey's anatomy" and became a fake doctor. >> before he was a fake doctor, he was a teacher. so rather than do medical inequality, he did education inequality. and so forth and so on. nermeen: one of the high-profile correspondents in "america divided" is hip-hop artist common was both an executive producer and a correspondent of the series. he returned to his hometown of chicago to examine disparities in the criminal justice system

there. in this clip, he speaks with ben breit, an official at chicago's cook county jail. >> the most visible symptoms of the violence the runs much deeper infecting the entire criminal justice system. so i have come here to the network of tunnels need america's largest single jail -- cook county. >> we move 1000 people per day to the court hearings and back in this tunnel system that can be entire complex. we are below cook county jail right now. >> thousands of people -- >> per day. >> coming through these tunnels? >> coming through these tunnels. now hisare walking into intake. everyone you see around you, they are not inmates yet. they've all been arrested last night in the city of chicago. is next stop for these guys

bond court. that is the moment of truth, where they could be walking at the door, could be here for 2, 3, 4 years with a bond is simply cannot afford to pay. >> you can be your just because you can't pay the bond for that amount of years. >> we have a couple hundred people in our jail right now who could walk out if they had $500. people are here because they are poor. it is a perpetual cycle. domingo that is a clip from "america divided," with hip-hop artist common. rick rowley, can you talk about this? >> these are really exciting kind of volatile times we are living. we are seeing dangers and also possibilities i have not seen in my lifetime here. as solly was saying, there's a level of inequality we're not seen since the gilded age and the eve of the great depression. there is no electoral season that is more polarized and insurgent than anyone i can

remember. onies is trying to take head the issues around race, class, and gender that are at the heart of the american experience or have been for the last 200 years. chicago has become the epicenter of growing national debate around race, policing, the criminal justice system. common returned to chicago in the immediate aftermath of the release of the laquan mcdonald is video of the killing of laquan mcdonald. and begin the investigation that killing that led to a look at the entire criminal justice system. we talk to everyone from garry mccarthy, the former police superintendent, to the sheriff of cook county and the jail to the state's attorney. and every person at every level of the criminal justice system of chicago agrees to matter what their position or politics are, the system is completely broken, that it is not keeping people safer -- amy: these people are held for

years because they don't have $500 bond. >> cook county was the most intense shoot i think we have with common. traveling through those 100-year-old tunnels beneath -- and they correct compound. a gory maybe think of island, the slave trade, were you had 1000 people going through each day. >> on top of that, aside from the largest single site jail in america -- i mean, los angeles county is a bigger jail system, but this is one compound. as a result, it is the largest mental health facility in the country because the health clinic seven shut down, so we are imprisoning people. social problems that we can't come up with a collective political will to handle, we throw the criminal justice system at them and the jail is a warehouse for those people. nermeen: i want to turn to another clip from "america divided." rosario dawson traveled to flint michigan, to

speak of the water crisis. she speaks with a woman whose family was affected. >> we have completely different kids. >> they went from straight a student to failing. jeremiah, missed 44 days this year he is so sick. bacterialghting infection from the water for two years. one can get out of bed. devastating knowing we are going through this as well, but have to see our kids go through it yet thoug? it is heartbreaking. if a neighbor poisoned and killed his wife, he would be in prison. and we have an entire city that has been poisoned.

nermeen: that was rosario dawson in "and it could divided," talking to someone in flint, michigan, about the water crisis. solly granatstein, can you talk about that? >> the flint water crisis is certainly one of the most heartbreaking sagas in recent memory. rosario dawson went to investigate what has happened. i would say the two names that came out, one was that this was a community that was battered and really nobody had any idea what was going on. it was down to the actual citizens of the community, citizens and scientists launching their own investigation in the face of an official denial that anything was wrong that really turned this story into a national -- a national story and a catastrophe we all know about. as was shown in the clip, no one

knows exactly how much damage was done. and no one will know for years how much damage was done by the lead in the water because lead poisoning is invisible and something that can only come out years hence. it affects -- when children are exposed to it, it can affect the rest of their lives in terms of their psychology, in terms of their ability to control impulses, and their functioning in society. amy: is a man poisoned his kid, he would go to jail for a very long time. this is the poisoning of an entire american city -- african-american. >> it had everything to do with the austerity policies. the secession of state governments by the special -- but especially the government of rick snyder, the republican governor. amy: i want to turn to a clip of peter sarsgaard who explored the , addiction crisis in rural ohio. here he speaks to women held in a prison in ohio. >> i am 22.

i do not have my ged. i did not graduate from high school. i have lost everything and everybody that i love. i don't have anything. introduced by my boyfriend. it started out recreational. before i knew it, i was a full-blown addict. >> my husband has lifelong health issues and could not get his painkillers, so he went and got heroin. i am probably on the verge of losing two of my children. i can't do a damn think about it. >> i have four kids. i have not seen them in six runs. their dad brought them to see me last week here. my 10-year-old daughter looked at me and said, i thought you were dead in a ditch. my youngest children just don't understand. for them, everything is just scary. so that is rough. that is something that not only i have to deal with, but they have to live with. i have done that to them.

amy: part of the "america divided" series. lucian read, you followed peter sarsgaard into this prison. >> the wider story is about the opiod epidemic and we chose to focus on dayton, ohio, hard-line american city that has been just ravaged but this addiction crisis. time to time, listed as the city in america the highest rate of overdose deaths. approached peter. he was interested in the story. he has sort of addiction issues for himself and his family and his past and was very engaged and willing to understand this crisis. we took him through the series of steps of the crisis in terms of where it temperament and the people it affects in dayton. in that scene, we went to the montgomery county jail, which has been kind of overwhelmed by the number of addicts who have been caught in the system and brought in. many of them, repeatedly. increasingly, women, young

women. the sheriff of montgomery county, a very conservative law enforcement officer, was, you need to see this to understand. we can't arrest our way out of this. you need to listen to the women caught up in this because of economic dislocation, caught up because being led in the crisis by their addiction, by family members, by love once, husbands, boyfriends. consistent across their stories. to see you have this idea of thects, the criminality and shame and all of that in this place in a prison where people have been taken out of that life and have a moment of clarity to really go in there and be able to tell or hear their stories. it was incredibly, incredibly moving and powerful. nermeen: "grey's anatomy" star and former teacher jesse williams goes back to the classroom in "america divided." he visited the gulf coast town of st. petersburg, in pinellas

county, florida, to study the battle to fix inequality in education. in this clip, he speaks with school board member mary brown, who repeatedly tried to sound the alarm about a loss of funding for children of color. budget, you look at the and see where you can cut costs. the school board, well, we have a budget cut that we have to make and we have to cut out busting some children. >> we're talking about a vote on whether we end up busting. >> the vote was that we would go back to neighborhood schools. >> you call the neighborhood schools -- >> segregated schools. that is the bottom line. the parents thought they would get everything they needed, some of the people in the black community., oh, the money has to come with the children. and the money should go with the children. but the money did not quite go

with the children. >> why do you think the money never went to where he was promised to go? >> because it went to other schools where they felt the need was greater. >> why might they think the need is greater? what are some of the differences? >> north county has more white children. south county has more minority children. can -- you can take that and think of it in any way you want to. funds did not come like they were supposed to come. i see a whole decade of children losing. nermeen: that was jesse williams speaking to someone -- >> mary brown. nermeen: can you talk about that? >> our attention was drawn to the county because of a series of reports in the "tampa bay

times" about a cluster of schools where the educational standards had collapsed in the course of seven years. they were not poor black neighborhood of kanellis county, five schools in a five square-mile radius that had gone fom a and b schools to schools in seven years. when jesse went down there and start a with activists and organizers, the problems began in 2007 when the school board voted to resegregation the school system. the end of the busing program and the school system collapsed. this is a problem that is happening across the country. segregation pushes the begin and the civil rights era heaped in the 80's and now they have been eroded. amy: you have done this series epix networks. working people see it? >> epix.com/freetrial is a

premium cable channel like hbo streamwtime, but you can it online. right now you can do it for free. amy: this is incredible and explosive end to be here in the midst of the election season raising all of these issues. we will continue the conversation and post it online at democracynow.org. ,olly granatstein, lucian read and rick rowley, astonishing series. nyu atyou will be at 6:00 as you show another part of the series. it is called "america divided." democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] on this episode of "eat! drink! italy!"...

michelin-starred chef stefano cerveni prepares an elegant shrimp dish; we'll get a quick lesson on the terroir of italian grand cru wines; we'll visit one of the world's experts in cheese aging; and i'll make an easy, but unforgettable, party dish. my name is vic rallo, and i believe that italy is the best place on earth to eat and drink. follow me, and i'll prove it. "eat! drink! italy!" is brought to you by the asaro line of sicilian extra-virgin and organic extra-virgin olive oils, tomatoes, olives, and more. from the asaro family to yours. martin-scott wines, providing wines from around the world.