06/05/13 06/05/13 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! gravely concerned and that any allegations of chemical weapons used by any party in syria but the secretary general has stressed in the use of such [no audio]

we will host a debate between the american civil liberties union and the national center for victims of crime. we will speak with the authors of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. mass protests are continuing in

turkey despite a government apology for the police crackdown. in a bid to defuse public outrage that has sparked fiery demonstrations nationwide, the turkish deputy prime minister expressed regret for the initial police response to protesters opposing the demolition of a public park. but he defended the use of force against protesters he accused of writing. force use of excessive shown against the people who initially started this protest, a motive of protecting the environment was wrong. it was unfair. i apologize to the citizens. i do not think we need to apologize to those who great destruction of public property in the streets and try to prevent the people -- freedom of the people in the streets. >> after the statement, clashes continued across turkey overnight between protesters and police. thousands remained the protest epicenter. pro-government forces in syria

have seized the key border town year rebel control. they're seen intense clashes over the past two weeks as fighters from the lebanese militant group hezbollah have joined forces aligned with syrian president bashar al- assad. france is planning tests on chemical samples taken from syria prove the deadly nerve agent sarin gas has been used several times to the country's more than two-year conflict. france did not give any details of where or by whom the poison gas was used. at and at a summit in brussels, secretary of is advised caution on france's claims. >> as a matter of principle, we never comment on these reports, but needless to say, if chemical used, weave been ,trongly condemn such acts

whoever might have used them. so far there is not much clarity about details in the circumstances. >> more on syria with journalist patrick cockburn after the headlines. protests are continuing in afghanistan's wardak province where alleged u.s. involvement in the disappearance of villagers has filled months of unrest. two demonstrators were killed tuesday when afghan please reportedly fired on a crowd the discovery brings to 10 the number of bodies that have been found of the 17 people who disappeared following their arrest last year. it is unclear if u.s. forces or the afghan units they shared the base with were responsible. u.s. military is denied involvement in the abductions, but as with all the findings of an internal probe. the military court martial of

accused army whistleblower bradley manning continued at fort meade, maryland on tuesday for a second day. the convicteduded computer hacker who turned manning in to u.s. authorities after they became friends online. adrian lamo testified manning expressed hope that files he passed on to wikileaks would help spark global debate and policy changes. for a consecutive day, prosecutors sought to tie manning to wikileaks founder julian assange, asking l;a -- lamo if manning had mentioned to in assange's neighborhood manning's immediate superiors are expected to take the stand today. the white house is expected to announce the appointment of u.n. ambassador susan rice as president obama is national security adviser for the rest of the second term. rice will replace tom donilon who is stepping down. considerationrom after republicans accused her of

misleading the public comments she made on sunday talk shows over last year's killings of u.s. ambassador and three other americans in benghazi, libya. president obama is challenging what he calls republican obstruction with the nomination of three judges at once. all three have been tapped to fill vacancies on the d.c. court of appeals, the nation's second most important court. the move could set off a showdown with congressional republicans this summer. obama said he was compelled to act in the face of an unprecedented republican opposition to his judicial nominees. >> my nominees have taken three times longer to receive confirmation than those of my republican predecessors. these individuals and nominate nominate are -- i qualified. when the were finally given and up or down vote in the senate, everyone of them was confirmed, so this is not about principled

opposition, it is about political obstruction. >> republican governor chris christie of new jersey is drawing criticism for calling a special election to fill the vacant seat of the late democratic senator frank lautenberg. on tuesday, chris christie announced the vote will take place in october, instead of just weeks later when christie is up for reelection as governor. democrats are widely favored to retain the seat and critics say governor chris christie called that election early to deter a strong democratic turnout when he seeks a new turn. although chris christie would likely still win at the senate vote was held the same day, his margin of victory would be less, fueling speculation he's trying to ensure a landslide that would help launch his rumored 2016 bid for the republican presidential nomination. the special election will cost taxpayers over $24 million, sparking outcry among opponents of his signature cuts to social programs.

governor chris christie's budget casualties include $10 million from after-school programs for children and low-income communities, $8.6 million in tuition subsidies for college students, and $12 million in charity care at hospitals. he has denied the decision was politically motivated and says he acted in reaction to state election law. senator lautenberg died on monday. top military leaders appeared before the senate on tuesday to refuse calls for independent oversight of sexual assault in the armed forces. the military has faced renewed calls to move oversight from the chain of command following a report showing around 26,000 sex crimes within the ranks last year. the findings coincided with the recent arrests of several army officials involved in sexual assault prevention on charges they committed some of the very crimes they are tasked with overseeing. democratic senator kirsten gillibrand of the york told the nearly all male contingent of military commanders that

victimized servicemembers are afraid to report sexual assault. >> you have lost the trust of the men and women who rely on you, that you actually bring justice in these cases. they are afraid to report. they think their careers will be over. they fear retaliation. they fear being blamed. that is our biggest challenge, right there. >> arizona senator john mccain weighed in on the assaults by saying the climate is so dangerous for women in the military, that he could not unconditionally recommend a woman in list. the suspect accused of last year's mass shooting at an aurora, colorado movie theater has entered a plea of not guilty reason of insanity. james home faces multiple charges of first-degree murder. connecticut has become the first day to approve the mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods. the measure can only take effect

however when at least four other states also pass similar bills. in a statement, the center for food safety said the measure should motivate similar efforts across the country, saying -- a new report shows a wide racial disparity in arrests for possession of marijuana. according to the aclu, african- americans are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites. the gap comes despite the fact pot usage amongst whites and blacks is nearly equal. overall, marijuana possession now accounts for nearly half of all drug arrests. the aclu concludes -- "state and local governments have aggressively enforced marijuana laws selectively against black people and communities, needlessly

ensnaring hundreds of thousands of people in the criminal justice system at tremendous human in canada costs." to police officers in jasper, texas have been fired after being caught on video beating a woman detained for an unpaid fine. the victim, keyarika diggles, was allowed to call her mother to help secure the money she needed for outstanding traffic ticket. but she says the officers who arrested her soon grew impatient. video surveillance of the room shows the officers pushing her up against wall, slamming her head into a counter, and then shoving her to the ground. she is then dragged by her ankle into a holding cell. keyarika diggles has filed a lawsuit seeking damages for police brutality. the town of jasper became known for racial violence in 1998 when james byrd jr., an african- american, died after being chained to a pickup truck by white assailants and dragged along a rural road, his body badly dismembered.

in egyptian court has convicted 43 ngo workers, including 16 u.s. citizens, of illegally using foreign funds to stir opposition to the former military government. although one of the 16 americans was tried in absentia after they were allowed to leave the country on bail last year. jackson mississippi has elected the attorney and activist chokwe lumumba as its new mayor. chokwe lumumba, a city council member in jackson, swept tuesday's vote with about 85% support. a veteran civil-rights activist, he is a co-founder of the malcolm x grassroots movement. the reverend will campbell has died at the age of 88. campbell was one of a small number of white clergyman who became deeply involved in the civil-rights movement beginning in the 1950's.

he took part in some of the struggle's key moments, attending the founding of the southern christian leadership conference in 1957 and helping escort nine black students to integrate a high school in little rock, arkansas months later. former president jimmy carter said -- and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today's show in syria. pro-government forces have seized control of the key border town of qusair, which have been controlled by rebel fighters for the past year. qusair, which lies on a cross border supply route with neighboring lebanon, had been the site of a fierce battle over the past two weeks as fighters from the lebanese militant group hezbollah joined forces aligned

with then-president bashar al- assad. since fighting broke out over two years ago in syria, more than 80,000 people have been killed and another 1.6 million syrian refugees have fled. earlier this week, the united nations accused both sides of the syrian conflict of reaching "new levels of brutality." the u.n. panel chair paulo pinheiro accused government forces of murder, torture, rape, forcible displacement and other acts, many of them carried out systematically against civilians. but he said anti assad rebels were guilty of similar atrocities. >> armored groups have also committed war crimes including murder, execution without due process, torture, hostage taking and pillage. the continue to endanger the civilian population by positioning. as we have said in the past,

there is a disparity between the violations of the crimes committed by the government forces and those committed by the rebels. but this is a disparity in intensity, not in the very nature of the crimes and violations. they are the same. >> in its report, the u.n. said they had "reasonable grounds close >> to believe that limited amounts of chemical weapons have been used in syria. the investigators said they had received allegations that syrian government forces and rebels had both used the banned weapons. but report lacked details. france said tests on chemical samples taken from syria prove the deadly nerve agent sarin gas has been used several times during the civil war -- during the conflict. but france did not give any details of where or by whom the poison gas avenues. this is the foreign minister. >> a line has been crossed. there is the united nations

approach. we're discussing with our partners, the english, the u.s., etc., what eventual reaction will have to be given. all options are on the table. >> in response, white house spokesman jay carney told reporters we need more information about claims of such use. sectarian tensions have been field across the middle east. in the northern lebanese city of tripoli, six people were killed in clashes on monday. in iraq, more than 500 people killed in may while more than 700 died in april, marking the bloodiest month there in nearly five years. meanwhile, the obama administration has announced that patriot missiles and f-16 fighter jets deployed to jordan for military exercise may be kept there due to the violence in syria. our next guest recently returned from syria and as reported on how the conflict is spreading in the middle east. patrick cockburn is a longtime foreign cars on with the independent of london bridge welcome back to democracy now! describe what is happening in

syria and what you're saying is the rarer -- reverberations across the middle east. >> the work gets more and more intense. the fighting gets heavier. i think we also have a stalemate. the government has been quite successfully in announcing it has just taken the town of qusair, as you mentioned. towardalso moved south the jordanian border. it impression i get is that was an exaggerated idea in the last two years that al-assad was going to go down. when i was in beirut, people last year and earlier this year, were thinking his days were numbered. but as soon as i get to damascus, it is not so obvious at all. i could drive from damascus up away,s, about 100 miles

without any cards -- guards. i think it was always an exaggerated idea that al-assad was about to go down. but the other big change in the syrian conflict is the way it is visibly spreading. lebanon. to hezbollah has been taking part in the latest fighting. anti-government forces have been moving, showing positions in lebanon. in iraq, where basically back to the days of the civil war. you mentioned to some figures, 500 iraqis died last month according to the human, -- according to the u.n., 1000 rid i am not sure of the disparity. but you can sense that people are tense. they feel very close to sectarian civil war between

sunni and shia and the number of being killed has reached the level it was last seen in 2008. >> patrick cockburn, you say there's a military stalemate in syria. could you explain how much of the country remains under the control of bashar al-assad and how much is under the control of opposition forces? >> right. what surprised me of the last year is you hear foreign leaders say al-assad is about to go down or his departure should be a precondition of any talks. while at the same time, al-assad controls and has controlled all but one or six to provincial capitals in syria. and he held 15 of them. they hold most of the population

centers. they hold a lot of the main roads. the opposition tends to hold areas in the country, particularly in the north in the east and northeast. they have been losing ground in the center and in the south. i don't think the government al- assad's forces are going to win a complete victory, but i do ofnk they are more capable holding their own. they are advancing. overall, it is a stalemate. i don't think the opposition will hold on to the areas it controls in the sunni-muslim areas. i don't think it will lose [indiscernible] but it is on the back foot at the moment. we will see what happens in aleppo. >> can you talk about the significance of qusair on the lebanese border and the shifting of hands back to pro-government

forces? aspeople think about it being sort of supply center. this is true. homs, which was mostly under government control. and supplies and reinforcements were moving through qusair. there is a military loss. on the other hand, it is not the main supply line. it mainly comes through turkey. most of the turkish border is controlled by the government. those are the main supply lines. most of the ammunition and weapons are coming through there. but an important thing about qusair, is a visible government victory. for two years, it looked as if the government was losing ground, maybe slowly losing ground. there was the feeling of inevitability for a lot of the

time that al-assad would eventually go, but that is not there anymore. one of the reasons it is not theirs because the war has spread. -- it is not there is because the war has spread. a popular uprising against the dictatorial government, nasa and other conflicts including the whole shia-steny dispute in the middle east. they are pitching in. that is not surprising. hezbollah has decided to make a full commitment to what it sees as its side in the syrian civil war. so that is a big change. >> you have written recently about the split within the syrian opposition forces and their criticism of the leadership outside of syria. could you explain who comprises the opposition forces and what is happening with them? >> sure. iraq,y the standards of the opposition forces are not

just let, but chaotic. there's a division between the military units in syria, sometimes under 100 people and sometimes over 1000, different brigades, no one really controlling them. different paymasters and suppliers outside. you have the free syrian army. but that sounds a bit more united than it actually is. then you have the calcutta-type organizations -- the al qaeda- tech organizations. aviously, is regarded with version but u.s. and various people on the outside. but then you have the syrian national coalition, the house of who are almosts

recognized -- then you have the political forces. the head of the national coalition recently resigned saying it was all run by foreign powers. it is deeply divided. will they negotiate in geneva? they're not sure who will go. even by the standards of sort of the divided opposition of the world, this one is extraordinarily chaotic. >> patrick cockburn, i would ask about the role of the u.s. in the conflict. this is secretary of state john kerry speaking on monday. >> what is happening in syria, one man who has been in power with his family for years now,

not than 40 years, will consent to inappropriate process by which the people of syria can and that the people of syria decide their future. he is decided to protect itself and his regime plus interest by reaching out across state lines and angeles soliciting the help listing the help of iran as well as hezbollah, a terrorist organization. a terrorist organization has crossed over from lebanon into syria and is actively engaged in the fighting. >> your response, patrick cockburn, to john kerry and also the fact the u.s. is deploying patriot anti-aircraft missiles and fighter jets to syria's

neighbor jordan. they say will be used for exercise, but others are speculating other things. it is pretty distressing what john kerry says, i'm afraid it is untrue. all you have to do is ask yourself, if al-assad would tomorrow, with the fighting stop? it would not because it is a civil war. it is not just al-assad but a whole group of people. someone said to me in damascus not so long ago, that 15% of the population supports the government, 50% the rebels, and 75% just want the war to end -- 15%, the rebels, and 70% just want the war to end. i cannot believe that john kerry believes it is so simple. as for foreign intervention, this syrian government, at 800

of its to nations fighting on the rebel side and tunisian security said it was about 2000. it really isn't true. i don't know how far this oversimplification is believed them by the state department or , but what isse is this prevents real negotiations taking place. if the of negotiations which say al-assad is a precondition that al-assad will go, that is absurd. he controls much of the country. if he said the iranians cannot have any role -- the iranians are a major player. you're basically saying with preconditions, there are no

realistic negotiations. , this think should happen basis you have a civil war with both sides hating each other so much, some atrocities at this stage that they're not going to agree on the future of distribution of power, power sharing or the future of syria. the best you can really hope for at this stage is a cease-fire, get the level of violence down. that might be later you could have talks about sharing power. but you're not going to have it happen at the moment. fire andld have a cease- the u.n. monitoring -- it did not work last year, but it is a lot better than what we have subsequently in the mediation, local ceasefires, just to the level of violence down and many might have talks. but before we do that, i don't think these talks will lead anywhere. >> patrick cockburn, i want to turn to research reports about the alleged use of chemical weapons in syria.

on tuesday, france said tests on chemical samples taken from syria prove the deadly nerve agent sarin gas has been used several times during the civil conflict. the white house responded by saying it needs more evidence on syria the chemical weapons have been used. this is white house spokesperson jay carney. >> we have worked closely with the french as well as other allies or the syrian opposition. to build on the information that we had developed about the likely use of chemical weapons in syria. we continue to work with the french and british and others to do that. i would note the french report said site in said -- citing more work needs to be done to establish who is responsible for the use and the amount used in more details about the circumstances around it. >> patrick cockburn, that was

jay carney. could you explain the significance of the alleged use of chemical weapons in this conflict? >> well, clearly, the rebels feel if they can prove it was used by the government it might lead to foreign intervention. so really all with this -- all witnesses to this are very powerful. the u.n. produced a report yesterday saying evidence of poison gas had been used. information as to who used it, how it was delivered, or what chemical weapons were actually used. that really shows a vacuum of information. the french are saying now it was used. but the french are very partial, in favor of the rebels.

great trackave a record in syria or in the lead up to the iraq war. so i think it's still pretty dubious. a lot of the stuff -- when you talk to people on the ground, many can be convinced chemical weapons are being used against them. but when you talk to them, they don't know. talking about sarin gas being used and people gasping and so forth, but if you in just sarin gas, you are dead. sometimes think tear gas -- the people think tear gas is chemical weapons, which -- and people get to completely be terrified. a lot of the evidence coming out is very partial, very dubious. some of the samples taken from syria, sympathizing with the rebels, take it to turkey, the

u.s. officials there. it took 13 days. no one told him what he was carrying. it is very uncertain. >> patrick cockburn, as we wrap up -- >> it does not really prove anything. >> the press coverage of what is happening in syria? actually. pretty bad, i have been covering the middle east for a long time and it is really the worst i've seen of any conflict there. why? some may say the steering government is the sympathetic to people -- may say the syrian government is not sympathetic to people in damascus. whether it is billed by rumor or opposition sources. i think the medium has been sort of credulous of taking huge evidence has been definitive. while there's nothing wrong with that, and television and

elsewhere, there is an understanding of how partial lot of this evidence is, youtube evidence, it is they are producing. he often have health warnings. the fact television is running it at all shows they believe it is true. i think that has given a sort of a false impression of what is happening. this is a genuine civil war. it may have started as a popular uprising, but i think all of that has been very partial. it is also given the impression the ellis on government is about to collapse. -- it has also given the impression that the al-assad government is about to collapse. rebelsre skeptical of cutting open the body of the government's soldier and eating his heart children cutting off the heads of others.

there is a case to be made on both sides, but that is reasonable. i am rather amazed the way the foreign media has relied on secondary sources and those sources are very partial. >> patrick cockburn, thank you for being with us, speaking to us from london, recently back from syria. we will have a link to his article. when we come back, a debate on dna. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. to make a decision by a divided u.s. supreme court that allows police to take dna samples and a person is arrested for a "serious" crime. the case centered on a maryland law used to take the dna test of a man arrested for felony

assault. the test matched dna in a rape case six years earlier that had previously gone unsolved. this is an exchange from the case's oral arguments between maryland's chief deputy attorney general katherine winfree and justice antonin scalia, who later wrote in his dissent that the law violates the for the mammoth protection against unreasonable search and seizure. >> may please the court, since 2009, when maryland began to collect dna samples from those charged with filing crimes and burglary, there have been 225 matches, 75 prosecutions, 42 convictions including that of respondent king. >> that is really good. i bet if he conducted a lot of unreasonable search and seizures, you get more convictions, too. that proves absolutely nothing. scalia, it justice does point out the fact the statute is working.

in the state's few, the act is constitutional. >> ultimately, the court upheld maryland's law which lets police use a swab to collect dna from the cells inside a person's cheek. supporters of the method call it "the fingerprinting of the 21st century." so far 25 states have passed similar laws. some even allow dna swabs for misdemeanor arrests. but privacy advocates say the ruling is vague because it does not define what constitutes a serious crime and could create an incentive for police to make more arrests. >> with this five to four ruling, more states are likely to adapt similar measures despite such concerns. for more we're joined by two guests. in san francisco, michael risher is a staff attorney with the aclu of northern california. his views were summed up in a post headlined, "supreme court ruling a blow to genetic privacy." one of his clients is challenging california's law that allowed her to have her dna

tested when she was arrested in a protest against iraq war. we're joined in washington, d.c. , for victims of advises theer group use of dna in the criminal justice system. we're going to washington first which supportsez fernan the decision. >> we support the decision because so many lives are going to be saved. if we can know ahead of time before someone is going to commit a grievous back to a person is through their dna, by their dna being in the system and the arrest allows us to have that in the system, first we can find cold cases that have not been solved and second, prevent other heinous crimes from happening like murder and rape. so which is a -- we do support

the decision and support that when other states take this up and the states that currently doing dna on arrest, that they do it in an ethical way that provides the best evidence we can get, and the most definitive evidence we can get. >> i want to plan excerpt from the oral arguments in the case maryland purses king. this is the chief deputy attorney general kathryn winfree been questioned by elena kagan. >> wouldn't individual is taken into custody, an individual is arrested on a probable cause, probable cause to arrest, that person by virtue of being in that class of individuals, his conduct has a lead police to arrest him based on probable cause surrenders a substantial amount of liberty -- >> that cannot be quite right,

can it? assume a person as been arrested, the state does not have a right to search your house for evidence of unrelated crimes. isn't that correct? >> correct. >> does not have the right to search your car for unrelated crimes. just because you've been arrested does not mean you lose the privacy expectations in things you have that are not related to the offense you have been arrested for. >> correct, but what we are ceasing is not evidence of crime but it is information related to that person's dna profile. 26 members -- >> and if they were real identification purpose, i understand that argument. if it is just to solve cold cases, which is the way you started, then it is just like searching or house to see what could help solve a cold case. >> i would say there is a real distinction between the police generally rummaging in your home to look for evidence that might

relate to personal papers and your thoughts, there is a real difference there than swapping the inside of an arrest the paucity to determine what that person's dna is. it is only looking at 26 numbers that cellist nothing more -- >> if that is what you're basing it on, then it is not based on an arestee. it could be in the old person in the street. why don't we do this for everyone who comes in for a driver's license? it is very effective. >> i think the difference there is these people are lawfully in custody having been arrested based on probable cause. >> i want to bring in michael risher of the aclu. could you respond to the oral arguments being made in this case? >> justice elena kagan is right. this is a general rummaging through our genetic blueprint to look for evidence of unknowns,

completely unrelated crimes with no reason to think the person has been arrested for maybe just a minor offense has committed any other crime. it is an incredible broadening of the government's authority to stick its fingers into our bodies, seize our bodily tissue, sees the dna profile and put it in an enormous criminal database with no suspicion think it will uncover any crime. >> what about claims, michael risher, that dna testing or taking dna swabs is the equivalent of fingerprinting? >> that is completely wrong. are fingerprints tell us nothing about ourselves. our dna is our genetic blueprint. the government is not just seizing 26 members, but our entire genome. keeping his second analyze it in the future if it is needed.

the government is already using these dna profiles in ways we could never imagine fingerprints being used for. maryland doesn't, but many states have familial searching. they look to the dna database. they don't find a matching sample, but find 100-150 that are close enough and think maybe one belongs to the perpetrators family members, so they go investigate those people. calling this a fingerprint is really a rhetorical device to try to hide the incredible invasion of privacy. when a police officer swabs your mouth for 30 seconds and seizes your genetic blueprint. >> mai fernandez, your response? >> the last time that my fingerprints taken, my hand was grabbed, it was put in a bunch of ink and rolled over piece of paper. one could say sticking a q-tip in your mouth and rubbing it around and be interested, but i

do think it is not particularly interested. they are just swapping a little saliva from the inside of your mouth and putting it on a stick. and i have got to say, fingerprinting has been around for over 100 years. dna has only been a tool with had since 1985. it is a new tool that is letting us investigate and identify the right person. that is the incredible thing. that is why dna is the gold standard for identification. we're not getting the wrong person, but getting the right person when we have a dna swab. i don't think it is intrusive. in addition, what we're doing is saying, this really is a perfect match. we don't get that kind of match with fingerprints. we don't get that kind of match with a picture that is taken, a mugshot taken at arrest. we finally have a tool that says, yes, this is the person

looking for. part of the challenge here is figuring out how we do this with the right kinds of protocols and making sure we have got the right kind of testing being done in the right set of circumstances. we have had 100 years to do with fingerprinting and how to use them. now it is time to figure out how to use dna properly. the supreme court says we can, now a gap that the right protocols to do that in a fair and ethical way. we're not out to do things that just go in and create lots of privacy problems for individuals. we are trying to solve crimes, trying to stop people getting murdered and raped. and in those situations where we have not been able to know who the perpetrator is, to be able to find them. this is the tool of the 21st century -- >> so what is wrong with what she is saying and what the

supreme court ruled, that this is about accuracy? >> i agree 100% that dna has revolutionized our criminal justice system. it has free the innocent and helped catch the guilty. it is not perfect. there are people involved. a horrible example of a mistake on run that put someone, an innocent man in jail facing capital charges because of dna. but general dna is great. what is bad for the criminal justice system, that for privacy and our constitutional rights is taking dna from people who are presumed innocent simply because a single police officer may suspect them of committing some inconsequential crime and putting their dna in a giant criminal database. we should be spending our resources, our lab resources and money, taking dna from people convicted of crimes, not presumed innocent, and testing all the thousands of untested sex assault kids, rape kits and

other crime scene dna evidence so we can connect those convicted criminals to actual crime scenes. we should not be wasting our money invading people's privacy, taking dna from people who will never be charged with the crime and never be convicted of a crime, people like my client who was just arrested at a peace rally. sortve not committed any of crime. they're not committed any crimes where dna will be relevant. but their genetic blueprints are sitting in a joint criminal database. that is not right. >> michael risher, i want to turn to a clip of your clients speaking on cnn i was arrested in 2009 at an anti-war demonstration. i was surprised, i did not know about the law, even though i had voted against it, i did not know it went into effect. they took me out of the cell and said there were there to take my

dna. i was shocked. i said i would not like that have taken. i believe i have the right to refuse to have my dna taken. when i refused, they said, if you refuse, you'll be charged with another misdemeanor which will lend you two more nights in jail. at that point i was a little nervous about what was going on. i did not want to spend two more nights in jail. i felt like i had to get my dna. >> michael risher, that was your client. could you comment on this case? >> our case is a class action challenging the taking of dna from people in california who simply have been arrested for what can be a very minor role -- minor crime like a joy riding. or being arrested at a peace rally. lily was never charged with any sort of crime. nonetheless, dina was taken. there was no warrant a reason to take their dna.

this interests of losses you have to do it and if you refuse, the police and taken by force or charged with misdemeanor and spend six months in jail. so we challenge this because the reality is, cases were people arrested and there is dna evidence at the scene, for example, a rape or there is dna evidence at the scene, the police can do what they've always done. they can use the same probable cause that justifies the arrest, to get a warrant to seize that dna, and analyze that and connect that person to the crime or any other crime. what the police should not be doing is taking dna from people who are presumed innocent with no judicial involvement simply because a single police officer has made the decision to rest some at a peace rally in what might have been a mass arrest. >> mai fernandez, your response, especially on this issue? >> i think we ought to look at

what the supreme court ruled on. they rolled on serious crime, taking dna upon serious arrest. they got a hit on a cold case of a rape. we're looking at a tool, the tool of the 21st century, to be able to attend a fight. if you keep it that serious crime, with the supreme court ruled on, serious crime taking dna upon arrest, and being able to find out who raped that poor woman? dnaink it justifies the been taken at arrest. i think if we can look at the protest crimes, dna taken for- minor crimes, that is not the case. we're looking at serious cases. i think the supreme court to the

right thing. going forward, we're going to be saving lives. >> we will continue to fall this issue and now plays out. thank you, michael risher and mai fernandez. when we come back, we look at a new book, "crow after roe: how 'separate but equal' has become the new standard in women's health and how we can change that." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. look at theow to disturbing new landscape of restrictions on reproductive health care in the u.s. on tuesday, a house panel voted to advance a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. the bill, sponsored by arizona republican congressmember trent franks, had previously applied only to washington, d.c., but the all male subcommittee voted to expand it nationwide. similar bans are already in

place in states across the country, many of them based on model legislation backed by national groups and pioneered in nebraska in 2010. >> the 20-week bans are part of an unprecedented tide of state abortion restrictions enacted in the past few years with the goal of challenging roe v. wade at the supreme court and making abortion inaccessible. the laws have created a new reality in women's health care, a two-tiered system where poor women and women of color and women in rural areas cannot access basic healthcare services. that is the premise of a new book called, "crow after roe: how 'separate but equal' has become the new standard in women's health and how we can change that." d.c.cuses on washington, and 11 states where laws have "practically regulated abortion out of existence." we're joined by the author, robin marty. and we're joined by jessica the senior legal

analyst and law professor at hamlin university school of law in st. paul, minnesota. with you.et's begin >> the booked takes a look at stake attacks and we start with nebraska because that is where the onslaught of it originated. not just with the 20-week and, but as the book chronicles with what was really the initial architecture of the challenges and that was the so-called partial birth abortion ban and focuses on nebraska and. the first chapter was a good place for that given the local politics on the ground and the structure of the state government. >> who is the force behind this trend across the country? >> there are several groups. their legislative and policy groups and also [indiscernible] life,national right to americans united for life, and

legal advocates along the lines of liberty counsel and the thomas more center, groups that andly have coordinated consolidated resources and efforts with one single goal in mind -- either overturn roe v wade and we criminalize abortion or make it absolutely impossible to access and therefore legal in name only. >> what are the links to citizens united? >> fantastic question. one of the reasons why the book looks at the onslaught of legislation after 2010 is because there is an explosion at the state level. it is in large part due to one of the driving forces which is james bopp junior who is a legal brains behind the challenge that created the citizens united decision. he sparked along with this group, a lot of the initial campaign finance charges and did

so through socially conservative groups. as a result of the unrestricted spending at the state level, it is where we are at right now. >> robin marty, if you could talk about the loss of targeted abortion, a provider laws, otherwise known as the heartbeat ban? trape heartbeat ban and laws are different breed we're looking at how there are a variety of ways of going after abortion regulation. in one case, you can ban abortion at different periods of time so we see the 20-week bans, heartbeat and. that can be as early as six weeks when her be detected. we don't think a lot will survive legal challenges, but we have so many states on the other hand, especially in the midwest and the south, that only have a few clinics left or just one clinic.

what this does is it puts an unnecessary regulation in place. either you need to rebuild your entire structure, which is impossible, or admitting privileges that doctors need to go to even though in a rare case there is a complication with abortion, if a woman does to a hospital, a hospital is not one to say we're not going to treat you. they put these in place because the act as additional barriers. then they can go through and pull licenses of clinics and start to eliminate clinics one by one that way so there are no more recesses for women to go. >> could you explain the title of the book? about jim crowg and because what we're seeing is a series of state restrictions that is enabled and supported by a federal judiciary who has largely upheld these restrictions. as a result, said effectively that prevent people the west

pregnant people have a different set of health care system they can access as a result of it. >> thank you both for being with us, jessica mason pieklo and robin marty, authors of, "crow after roe: how 'separate but equal' has become the new standard in women's health and how we can change that." 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!]

m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m >> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. today in our special fund- raising condition of democracy now! here on the tv we will bring you a special conversation about an award winning documentary called -- the film features rare archival footage shot between 1967 and 1975, including some of the leading figures of the black power movement in the united states, like stoker carmichael, hugh b. newton, angela davis. the footage was shot by two swedish journalists discovered in the basement of public

television 30 years later. the renowned actor and activist danny glover co-produced the black power mac state. i had a chance to interview him when you're at the sundance film festival two years ago. we were in the headquarters of festival andfilm we are making available to you not only our conversation today but the documentary itself we are talking about. i highly encourage you to call to get a copy4334 of the documentary. it is the black power mix tape. it is a remarkable film. you can also get the full conversation with danny glover for a contribution of $75. together, $150. .f you call 866-359-4334 without further ado, let's go back to the conversation i had when danny