08/28/14 08/28/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! today's congress is full of folks who stubbornly and automatically reject the scientific evidence about climate change. they will tell you it is a hoax or a fad. one member of congress actually said the world is cooling. >> as international climate scientists warn runaway and house gas emissions could cause severe, pervasive, and reversible impacts, the obama

administration is abandoning attempts to have commerce agreed to a illegally binding international climate deal. we will speak with bill mckibben of 350.org about the latest of elements in the upcoming people's climate march in new york. his burger king becoming a tax dodging whopper? we look at the fast food giants plans to move its headquarters from the u.s. to canada after it merges with tim hortons. an activist guide to archiving video. >> once again, police beating up on people. >> as more videos of police brutality to continue to make headlines, we will speak with yvonne ng of witness, group that trains and supports people using

video in a fight for human rights. all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the u.s. and ukrainian governments are accusing russia of launching a new cross-border operation to back separatist rebels in eastern ukraine. on wednesday, officials in washington and kiev said russian forces had moved across the border for the third time this week. effectively, opening a third front ukraine's battle with the rebels. the state department spokesperson said russia has launched a counteroffensive against ukrainian troops. >> these incursions indicate a russian directed counteroffensive is likely that is oflearly, deep concern to us. i will also note that we are -- i'm not sure many of you have seen this, but we're also concerned by the russian government's unwillingness to

tell the truth even as it soldiers are found 30 miles inside ukraine. russia is sending its young men into ukraine better -- but are not telling them where they're going. >> the apparent russian operations have helped separatist forces make several advances, including on the town zovsk earlier today. global health officials are warning the ebola outbreak in western africa continues to escalate and could get far worse. the world health organization says the death toll in liberia, sierra leone, guinea and nigeria has reached 1552. more than 40% have occurred in the past three weeks. the world health organization says the total could eventually exceed 20,000 cases. speaking in liberia, doctors without borders said aid workers are overwhelmed in trying to contain a worsening crisis. >> it is all areas, all districts of the city. people are dying and getting

sick every day. the population has turned. there are now afraid. there are asking for help. they don't know how to respond to this. nobody will come and pick them up because the system is completely overstretched. there are too many and the response is to week. there facing a humanitarian crisis and it is evolving in front of our eyes and getting worse every day. >> the outbreak has forced the suspension of major flight routes to the affected countries. on wednesday, the african nk warned thea outbreak has caused enormous economic damage. the mother of an american journalist held by the islamic state has issued a public appeal for his release. steven sotloff was kidnapped last year. he can be seen in the video islamic state released this jamesat the beheading of foley. in a taped message, shirley

sotloff data directly to the head of islamic state. since steven's capture, i've learned a lot about islam. i have learned that islam teaches no individual should be held responsible for the sins of others. steven has no control over the actions of the u.s. government. he is an innocent journalist. i have always learned that you can grant amnesty. i asked you to please release my child. as a mother, i ask your justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no control over. >> curriculum comes as freed journalist peter theo curtis has after his return to the u.s.. for nearly two years by another militant group, the al qaeda linked nusra front. curtis thanked his supporters.

>> following my release on sunday, i've learned bit by bit there have been hundreds of people, brave, determined people all over the world working for my release. you have been working for two years on this. that so much effort was being expended on my behalf. having found out, i am overwhelmed with emotion. to all those people i say, a huge thank you from my heart, from the bottom of my heart. >> a new united nations probe is accusing brought the syrian government and islamic state insurgents of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in their fight against the other. a u.n. panel on the civil war in syria said the islamic state is recruiting him children for its bloody campaign. >> among the most disturbing findings in this report are accounts of large training camps

where children, mostly boys, from the age of 14, are recruited and trained to fight in the ranks of isis along with adults. report, itd in the indicates members of isis have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in aleppo including acts of torture, murder, forcible displacement. >> the probe also faults the syrian government for continued killings, torture, and other war crimes including multiple barrel bombings laced with chlorine gas since april. the libyan government is warning of a full-scale war. on sunday, islamist militias claimed control of the libyan capital tripoli after taking

over the main airport. on wednesday, the libyan ambassador told the un security council his country was descending into "full-blown civil war if we're not very careful." the outgoing u.n. envoy to libya said over 100,000 people have been displaced since the conflict escalated last month. >> the threat from the spread of terrorist groups has become real . their presence and activities in a number of libyan cities are known to all. at present, the toxic security situation and the very limited capacity of the government to counter the threat may well have created a fertile ground for a mounting danger in libya and beyond. >> protesters have gathered in dayton, ohio to call for federal probe into the fatal police shooting of an african-american

man in a beavercreek walmart. police say john crawford ignored commands to drop a gun, which turned out later to be a bb gun he had picked up from a shelf. but an attorney for the family of john crawford says surveillance video, which has not been released publicly, shows crawford was leaning on the light of the gun while talking on a cellphone when he was "shot on sight." hasuse attorney general assigned a special prosecutor to investigate the case. in chicago, hundreds of people have marched to protest the shooting of a man shot dead on sunday after police say he pointed a gun in the direction of an officer. residents, including macintosh his mother, ramsey was on his knees surrendering and he was shot. according to the chicago tribune, chicago police shot 36 people last year, 26 of them black man. so far this year, that shot more than 30 people including another african-american man killed a

say not as macintosh. in a separate case, chicago police commander glyn evans has been charged with abrogated -- aggravated battery. jay nixon has nominated former st. louis police chief daniel isom to the state's top law enforcement position, heading the department of public safety. if confirmed, he would be the lone african-american member of next and's cabinet. his nomination comes in the aftermath of this month police shooting of michael brown. police in omaha, nebraska have actually shot and killed a camera operator filming their operations for the long-running television show "cops." bryce dion was part of a crew embedded with officers as they confronted a robbery suspect inside a fast food restaurant when he was shot by police bullet. the omaha police chief described the incident and said yet authorized the filming because he wanted to repair the police department sternest reputation after an incident last year. >> when they encounter the

suspect in the gunfire ensued, and it is a very dramatic video, when the gunfire ensued, at some point, mr. washington started exiting his way out -- as you can see in the bottom picture. he is on his way out. officers are returning fire. by a round.truck i don't regret it in one sense because i wanted to be transparent for the community. personally, i will live with this forever. if i had known this would happen, of course -- >> bryce dion, the killed "cops" staffer was a sound operator. it is comes amiss reports about a nine-year-old girl who accidentally shot an instructor who is teaching her to use an uzi submachine gun.

the national rifle association tweeted -- an account with the handle an array women tweeted that link and later deleted it. closing arguments have wrapped in the trial of four blackwater operatives. the suspects are charged for the deaths of 14 of the 17 iraqi civilians who died when their blackwater unit indiscriminate lee opened fire. the case has lacked for years with prosecutors accused of dragging her feet in the lower court's dismissal of the charges in 2009. the trial featured testimony of those who survived the attack and sullivans gun down. prosecutors have blackwater guards had shot fleeing civilians and boasted of taking their lives. jury deliberations are set to begin next week.

and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. president obama is reportedly seeking a nonbinding climate accord in lieu of a binding global treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "the new york times" reports u.s. negotiators are crafting a proposal that would not require congressional approval and instead would see pledges from countries to cut emissions on a voluntary basis. earlier this year, obama voiced his frustration with members of congress who refused to accept the reality of climate change. some parts of the country, whether weighted -- weather-related disasters will get harsher and costlier. today's congresses full of hopes stubbornly and automatically evidencee scientific of climate change and will play who it is a hoax or a fad.

one member of congress actually says the world is cooling. >> meanwhile, new draft of the united nation's report warns climate change could become irreversible if greenhouse gas emissions go unchecked. the report from the intergovernmental panel on climate change obtained by media outlets says human driven warming has already fueled extreme heat and torrential rains, estimators have risen 1.5 degrees fahrenheit since preindustrial times. the report says it gets to be possible to cap warming at the globally agreed upon limit of 3.6 degrees fahrenheit, it warns a continued rise in emissions could eventually cause an eight degree fahrenheit rise. that could prompt mass extinction of plants and animals and catastrophic floods. if global warming is to be adequately contained, the report says, at least three quarters of known fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground. asthe new report comes

activists are gearing up for what might be the largest rally for climate action ever, the people's climate march on september 21. organizers are hoping more than 100,000 people will take to the streets of new york city. more than 700 groups have endorsed the event, including 20 labor unions. the rally is scheduled to take place two days before global leaders convene at the climate summit at the united nations headquarters. >> for all that and more we're joined by video stream by bill mckibben, cofounder and director of 350.org them author of many books including, "eaarth: making a life on a tough new planet." welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about the latest u.n. report and then what president obama -- according to "the new york times" in his front-page piece -- is planning to do? new u.n. report is more of the same in a sense, the scientific community to the intergovernmental panel climate

change telling us what they been telling us for two decades, that global warming is out of control and the biggest threat the human beings of ever faced. they're using what was described as more forceful language. there's really not much more that the scientific community could be doing to warn us. our early warning systems have functioned. the alarm has gone off. all of our satellites and sensors and supercomputers have produced information that we need to know. the question is, will we act on it? no.answer so far is, it has been no in congress, for sure. there is no hope of a treaty that will get ratified by two thirds of the senate. that is the complication at the moment in international negotiations. ofcan't reach any kind binding treaty.

the story about the new obama approach is pretty old news. everyone has known for years there's not going to be a tr treaty ratified. everyone is looking for work around. it would involve some kind of different voluntary commitments by different countries but done publicly so one could keep track of them. if this all sounds a little dubious to you, it will sound even more dubious to all the countries that are watching themselves disappear beneath the waves, so on and so forth, as global warming accelerates. less thequestion is form of the agreement than the content. here's where we will find out in the next few one whether the obama administration is actually serious or not. if we're going to do anything about the problem on the scale the scientists describe it, then we're going to need far, far more ambitious attempts in the

obama administration has put forward so far. yes, they have put a cap on coal-fired power plants. that is good. at the same time, they have helped expedite the rise in the united states to become the biggest coal and gas producer in the world, asking -- after the saudi's and the russians. they watched coal exports steadily grow. that is not compatible with what the scientists tell us, that we need to keep 75% or 80% of the fossil fuels we know about underground. so the obama administration, which likes to poke fun at congressman, hasn't been really slowing things down. the rest of the world can see that. the only way we can change any of these equations here or elsewhere is by building a big movement. that is why september 21 in new

york, which all these groups are coordinating, such an important day. >> bill, given the failure of the united states congress in any way to act, what do you think president obama could do? some of the specifics of a more progressive policy on climate change would be. >> president obama could have said for great the just said three years ago or four years ago, we are not going to build the key stone pipeline. that would've been a signal to the rest of the world because it would've been the first summer world leaders said, here's a massive project we're not building because of its effect on climate. instead, he has delayed and passed along from one election to the next and try to avoid any political pain. there are many other things he could be doing, including pushing hard for serious price on carbon. which is not necessarily a political impossibility. "the is an editorial in cap and dividend proposals that

.ould put a big tax on carbon it is the kind of thing that would might strike a quarter pushed hard. hardould be working figuring out how at every turn to expedite and speed up the deployment of renewable energy. the president made a big point of how he was expediting the process to do things like build the southern half of the keystone pipeline across texas and oklahoma. there hasn't been the same kind of work need up, say, the cape wind project off massachusetts coast. we need to be doing what the germans have done. there were days this summer when the germans were getting 75% of their power from solar panels within their borders. that is the kind of effort we need. i don't think we yet at 1% in this country. >> bill mckibben, when president

obama flew into copenhagen, many there, the thousands of people who were there for the climate summit, felt he ultimately sort of blew up the possibility of real agreement there. that was in 2009. do you think he has made progress? do you see what is being rolled out by -- clinically binding but not actually binding, as continuing that trend? >> i think is probably continuing the trend we saw. willing to provide the kind of powerful galvanizing leadership that might really shake things up, but they're determined to avoid another embarrassment like there was in copenhagen. the next copenhagen meeting is in paris in december 2015. if it is the same kind of pr

disaster copenhagen was, the president will leave with this on his legacy. i think he was to keep some kind of climate legacy. she knows it is how history will judge him. so far, they're not willing to take the kind of political hit and risk in this country from the fossil fuel industry that would go hand-in-hand with something serious. they're trying to have it both ways. not for the first time on some issue in the obama administration. >> bill mckibben, given the stark nature of this latest report, talking about a 3.6 degrees fahrenheit increase in temperatures by 2050, as much as 6.7 degrees by the end of the is given to that gasinue greenhouse

emissions now, do you see hope anywhere in the world and in what particular nation, the people of managed to get the governments to tackle this problem? >> absolutely. the thing that is changed in the 25 years since i read the first book about this, we now know the answers are technologically available. as i said, the germans have done a fantastic job of deploying renewable energy. it is not because germany has so much wind and so much sun. in fact, it is at a far northern latitude. it is because, instead, they are the more important natural resource of political will. the good news is, political will is something we can create, and that is why we will all be in the streets of new york on september 21. that is going to be an amazing day. that march is going to be led by environmental injustice advocates -- and by mental justice advocates. it will be joined by the entire

progressive spec from, including for the first time, the labor movement in a big way. it is an attempt to show there is powerful demand for change around climate. have longout there thought to themselves, i wish i could do something about global warming but it seems so overwhelming, what can one individual do? in one sense, that is true. changing reliable is it going to do it at this point, -- changing your lightbulb at this point is not going to do it. but being in the streets of new york on september 21 for peaceful, festive but ultimately very powerful, i think, demonstration of political will. >> i want to turn to cnn worldwide president whose network has come under criticism for lack of coverage of climate. he suggested american audiences

just aren't interested in climate change. >> climate change is one of those stories that deserves more attention, but we all talk about and have it figured out how to engage the audience in that story in a meaningful way. and that when we do do those stories, there does tend to be a tremendous amount of lack of interest on the audience's part. cnn worldwide president jeff zucker. >> first of all, i want to say thank out for democracy now! the second thing is, these guys are not trying. look, people are interested in things like massive storms, huge droughts. .here are scary and powerful these guys don't try because among other things, the fossil feel industry is the richest

industry on earth and taking on climate change means taking on the fossil fuel industries. that is difficult for people in those kinds of positions to do. at any rate, the notion that the only reason or the only way we can figure out what we're going to cover as reporters is what is popular, well, it would yield any much the kind of journalism we see all around us at the moment. >> bill, california still suffering from a catastrophic drought. the state's third-largest city, san jose, officially declared a water shortage and are stress against to reduce their water usage. last month, the u.s. drought monitor reported that more than half of the state was expressing the most severe drought possible -- experiencing the most severe drought possible. your thoughts? >> california is experiencing a

drought for deeper than anything since at least the 1500's when there were not 38 million people living there. the scientist said last week they think california has lost about 63 trillion gallons of groundwater in the course of this drought. that has been enough to cause ,his year nevada -- seer nevada the mountains of california to rise half inch in the last year. given we're making change on that kind of skill, it would be appropriate for our leaders to actually make change on that kind of scale. your point is the right one. these are massive changes. these are civilization -threatening kind of changes. it is hard to imagine that steven chu said some years ago, how honor you're going to have agriculture in california by

centuries and, much less have big cities there. that is reality unless our leaders get together and do far, far, far more than they're doing at present. >> and the student movement around the country to have the universities and colleges divest from oil companies? yale just became the latest, joining with harvard and brown, to say no to divestment. others have said yes. what is your assessment of that move? >> oxford university in a study last year said it is the fastest-growing social movement in history. we're way ahead of where we thought we would be. so far are not divesting, but they will. it took them eight or nine years when it was apartheid in south africa. others are going at a blistering pace. there is now a drive under.

you can find out about it at 350.org, to persuade pope francis to have the vatican divest. a big roman catholic research university did this summer. yesterday, university in sydney, australia and the biggest coal nation on earth, announced it was divesting from coal. this is an exciting fight. the point is, the point we have been making, the fossil feel industry has four times as much burnn as we could possibly . it is no longer a point i am making in "rolling stone" or the university students are making, now the world bank and international energy agency and on monday, the intergovernmental panel on climate change are making. everybody is doing that math. it is only a matter of time before people, universities, and other institutions begin to do it, too. i think we will see some

powerful announcements about divestments out of the united nations summit right after the big march on the 21st. >> i want to thank you, bill mckibben, for joining us from your home in vermont. author of many books including, "eaarth: making a life on a tough new planet." democracy now! will cover the major march here in new york as well as we will be in lima, peru for the next u.n. climate summit in december. when we come back, is burger king becoming a major tax dodger whopper? stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> this week burger king announced it is buying the canadian coffee and donut chain tim hortons for $11.4 billion, creating the third largest fast food chain in the world. the newly created firm will be headquartered in canada where the corporate tax rate is lower than in the united states. while burger king denies it was motivated by lower taxes, the deal has revived the debate over so-called tax inversions, whereby u.s. companies use mergers to move overseas and avoid u.s. tax rates. in july, the obama administration estimated tax inversions could cost the united states as much as $17 billion per year. one investor who stands to profit from the burger king deal is obama supporter warren buffett. he let burger king $3 billion under lucrative 9% rate to help

complete the deal. clocks to discuss the deal and what it can mean, where point by james henry,ed by an economist, lawyer, and senior advisor with the tax justice network. covers theickinson, national affairs beat for "rolling stone," and just published a new piece called "the biggest tax scam ever: some of america's top corporations are parking profits overseas and ducking hundreds of billions in taxes. and how is congress responding? it is rewarding them for ripping us off." explain what inversion is and what burger king is doing with tim hortons. >> in this case, we have basically a u.s. company that is 7000 locations here, paying a higher corporate tax rate than it would if it were a canadian company.

simply by switching the corporate headquarters to canada, they can realize that gain. the company is denying that is the motivation, but in fact, because canada has a territorial corporate income tax, they would not be receiving any income on the more than 6000 locations that are outside of the united states. basically, in amounts the way of immediately cutting burger king's taxes that are paid to the irs. >> this has been a growing trend now in recent years in the u.s. could you talk about some of the other major companies that have done the same thing? is what -- clearly, it legal, but the obama administration has been on a warpath on this issue. a dramatic been increase in the interest in this activity. if you go back to 1983 to 2004, there were about 27 corporate inversions.

in the last decade, there is been about 50. in this year, at least 50 are under consideration. copies mainly in the --rmaceutical industry companies mainly in the pharmaceutical industry looking at off shoring their ownership to countries and places like ireland that have a 12% tax rate. it is an beginning with burger king. this is quite a flurry of fact committee. there is legislation that could try to constrain us introduce by senator levin and his brother in congress. simply by qualifying the restrict -- restricting the amount of ownership that u.s. company has to have. but that hasn't really gotten a lot of support. democrats are kind of divided on this issue. this has to be seen as more of a general phenomenon. i think the right is working on an agenda to basically repeal the corporate income tax.

where there is a flurry of activity around inversions, this twoer we have seen at least editorials in "the new york times" talking bout, why not repeal it because it is so complicated? inversions are the tip of that problem. >> burger king has defended its actions. the executive chairman said on tuesday -- the company's chief executive daniel schwartz added -- is that true? >> this operates -- i think this is not true. it is a whopper. is, the canadian tax rate officially is 27%, which is now much lower than ours. in fact, effective tax rate in canada is about 20% or lower. because of the fact they have a territorial tax, any u.s.

profits that were received from the 6000 restaurants offshore, would not be taxed by canada. canada is not getting any incremental revenue. all of that revenue is just being lost to the u.s. treasury. the other thing we have seen in the other 70 inversions to date, is companies have loaded up on foreign debt. owner ofcally, foreign u.s. company, would make the u.s. company barro and pay interest to the parent and a low tax jurisdiction. that has been a big pattern with inversions and i would expect to see that here. >> speaking about the financing of this particular deal, turns out warren buffett is one of the main bank rollers of this deal. he is a friend and supporter of president obama, extolled by him repeatedly as an ethical businessman. and yet here he is after constantly criticizing his value

-- fellow billionaires for not wanting to hand out taxes, suddenly bankrolling this inversion. >> he claims he is not doing it for tax inversion -- tax credits. this is not the first time tim hortons has been acquired by a u.s. company. it was owned by wendy's. canadians are upset because when wendy's bought tim hortons, they added no value at all. it was a disaster and they finally had to spend it all. the real player behind the scenes is a brazilian billionaire that no one is even heard of in the united states, jorge paolo lehman. he and warren buffett have gotten together on this deal. they also own heintz. they took them private. they own anheuser-busch. there on a path to privatize and reduce the taxes paid by major u.s. companies that we all know

and love. i like to ask warren buffett how he felt about the tax value and exactly where he thinks burger king is going to add real value. >> some are calling for a boycott of burger king because of the merger. democratic senator sherrod brown of ohio issued a statement that -- both wendy's and white castle are based in ohio. brown also called for the creation of a global minimum tax to eliminate incentives for companies to move. toould like tim dickinson comment on this. he's written extensively about these kinds of deals and others for "rolling stones" where he is a computing editor. talk about this and then what you called the biggest tax scam ever. >> the inversion trend is just

the tip of a very destructive iceberg that is seeing the hollowing out of our corporate tax base. inversions are an illegal scam that lets the company technically offshore software lower tax rate and go some hat in hand with companies shipping massive quantities of corporate profits overseas through sort of elaborate schemes. it sits their tax-free energy-related tax-free kind of like a 401(k) does. -- visits their tax-free and collect tax-free really kind of like a 401(k) does. at the same time we're cutting food stamps, cutting feeding paid of the elderly -- heating

aids of the elderly, there is half italian dollars for both sides of the aisle can't go after. corporate power has grown much stronger than the state power. thatm dickinson, one thing many of these counties are parking profits overseas keep .ively lobbying for his amnesty they want tax amnesty where the government would lower their taxes temporarily serving him for his money back. can you talk about that and who in congress champions that? >> it is like a bailout. a bailout on the tax bill. in the bush of administration in 2004, the nominal u.s. tax rate never really -- the nominal rate is 35% and in the bush europe [indiscernible] basically, 30 points shaved off

tax rate. parties are attracted to this idea. there are a few folks that have raised enough of a sting about it. literally, both sides, was recently harry reid and rand paul were shopping a bill that would allow corporations to bring cash home at a lower rate. while republican side, as low as 3.25%. on the senate side, ron wyden's bill would allow 5.25% tax holidays. >> i was going to say the 2004 iseriment with this idea illustrative. about one third of that went to pfizer. they proceeded to layoff their employees. they produced no jobs.

essentially, management got rich because they used the money for management i out's and for shareholder -- share repurchase is. it is a good example of how bad this idea is. , you writeinson about google and the company that makes viagra and apple. tell us what they take advantage of. >> there are marriott tax schemes by which u.s. profits are funneled out of the country in ways that make them look [indiscernible] viagra, pfizer, they transferred the economic rights of intellectual property behind viagra to a share company which got a tax haven in europe. here, theale the drug liechtenstein company would charge a steep royalty. the american company would appear to not only not make any

profit on those sales, but actually be creating a business law tear in america because they had to pay business expenses to its own subsidiary. your lowering the tax bill on the american side, even as your increasing the profit on the liechtenstein side. record. incredible this is legal. this is not been crackdown on by congress. they figured out a way to sort of disappeared this money and put it overseas. i should mention, the u.s. has a global system of taxation so that corporate profits around the world from american-based multinational are supposed to be ared, and that was the idea shipping lanes, protecting property across the world, has been practiced for more than a since 1924.

this is not a new idea. this is an incredible amount of accounting innovation that is gone into figuring out how to make profits disappear and impact of your as losses in the united states as the cash piles of in foreign subsidiaries, which in turn banks the money right back your in the united dates. then when the ceos need to use that money here in the united states, there's something called synthetic cash repatriation where they're able these the same accounting tricks to short-term revolving loans or through bond offerings here in the u.s., which apple has done. so this cash can -- the power of the cash can reappear here in the united states. the only one cut out of the loop is uncle sam, who is supposed to get 35% money returned to the country. >> james henry, i am why there isn't a greater public outcry

over this. you essentially have american companies who take advantage of the protections that the american government provides, the patent laws, intellectual property laws, as you say, the military that assures international commerce goes on. they take advantage of all of the benefits of the government, but then they ship their money overseas where they don't have to pay taxes. finance the very government that provides and the protection. >> that is right. small business is not benefiting from all of these tax games that multinationals are able to pay, and they're having to compete with these companies here. it really has been a growing movement, i think, and we made a film called "we're not broke." it is about this very issue of tax dodging. the outrageous behavior of these companies off shoring or intellectual property that was paid for by u.s. r&d subsidies

here to places like ireland and bermuda where they have no research labs, then paying themselves royalties tax-free. the outrageous are clear. the issue is, these are very powerful lobbies, corporate tax lobby employees 1800 tax working onull-time this night and day. ice and they take time off for burger king -- i assume they time off for burger king. but the level -- >> three for every legislature. >> absolutely. this lobby has grown in power, as the tax rates have fallen since the 1980's. we now have cut corporate tax rates in the u.s. roughly in half. there is a race to the bottom worldwide. this just has to be seen as part of that global phenomenon. persists ind states

cutting its tax rates, it is going to have terrible impact on other countries, developing countries in particular. if there is no corporate income tax in the u.s., there is no tax thatt for the taxes american companies pay abroad. so those countries will be forced to reduce their tax rates as well. not just about inversions. it is part of a growing, think ,ery radical view on the right to essentially get rid of the corporate income tax. >> last point, i asked you about google and apple. tim dickinson, if you could explain what they do as we wrap up. >> apple has this amazing deal where they have got essentially a shadow company in ireland. it is incorporated in ireland, but for irish purposes, it is an american company. for america purposes, it is an

hour's company. you end up with this black hole of taxation where in fact this a taxsubsidiary files return to no government in the world. they can use all kinds of accounting tricks to funnel money to this company and they sit there essentially absolutely untaxed. they billions of dollars sitting there. when apple needs billions of dollars to fund its american operations, it has bond offerings. incredibly low. investors are virtually paying apple to raise money because it is secured by these massive piles of cash, technically abroad, although their banks reportedly in manhattan. we talk about it as a right-wing

phenomenon, but it is both parties. there's no meaningful party out there that is trying to address this. in fact, both hearties now agree there should be -- both parties agree we should shape 10 percentage points off, down to 25%. it is no way to run a global superpower and compete with the taxation's like ireland. i need to emphasize, this is truly a bipartisan scenario. both parties are pushing corporate tax holidays and pushing to lower the corporate rate, even though the effective rate that companies pay here on their profits is actually, in many cases, lower than the effective rate and other countries. >> tim dickinson, thank you for being with us. he's contributing editor at open rolling stone." thank you so much to james henry , former chief economist from

mckinsey and company, lawyer and senior advisor with the tax justice network. when we come back, the activist guide to archiving video. what happens when you take a video on your cell phone? what should you do with it? stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> we end today's show with a guest who has advice for the growing number of people filming police abuse with their smart phones and video cameras. over the years, such footage has helped fuel demand for police account ability in the u.s..

reineke mckim a worldwide symbol of police abuse in 1991 after homing video emerged of los angeles police officers brutally beating him. 18 years later, footage of oscar grant who was shot to death in a subway platform in oakland by transit police officer. >> earlier this summer, a resident of staten island, new york felony death of eric garner, an african-american father of six who died july 17 after police placed him in a chokehold when he was accused of selling loose cigarettes. he can be heard repeatedly saying "i can't breathe." eventually, stops moving. >> pitcher hands behind her head. i can't breathe.

i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. >> once again, police beating up on people. backup. there garner's death has since been ruled a homicide. original police report made no mention of a chokehold. us recently, video has emerged of michael brown left dead in the street for hours after he was killed by police officer darren wilson, contributing to the protests that lasted nearly two weeks. demonstrators filmed the police force, prompting further outrage. at one point, video of a police to killthreatening protesters, led to his indefinite suspension. >> to talk about how to properly preserve such video, we're joined by yvonne ng. she co-authored, "activists' guide to archiving video" which is available in english and spanish and arabic, after hearing from activists this was

a skill set they were largely missing. explain what you do. you're there with your cell phone and your filming something. what do you do with it after that? >> that is very important point. we provide resources on how to film during a protest that is just as important thing what you're going to do after you film so that what you have done can make the most difference. that is where the archiving comes in. the point of archiving is to help ensure that your video is preserved, intact, and ready to be used when you need it. there are a number of things that activists can do. archiving, when you get really into it, can get complex but there's a lot of basic practices that anyone can do to ensure their video survives intact and can be used. we know this is possible because we have worked with activists in

syria who are facing enormous challenges. they have been able to successfully implement some of these practices. >> explain what you're trying to preserve. not just the video image, but explain what else you are trying to preserve, like the metadata. >> well, videos can be used to not only raise awareness of what is going on, but they can be used in the legal context to exonerate some of the who has been falsely accused or wholesomely accountable for actions. in order for that to happen, your video -- people need to understand what is going on in your video. people need to know what is in it happened when you say it happened. where you said it happened. tois important to hold on copies of your original video. we know a lot of activists upload videos to youtube and then they often delete their

copies of the video because they need the storage space. it is understandable. but youtube takes videos down all the time for various reasons. if you don't have a copy, it is lost. you want to hold onto to your videos in the original format because like you said, there's metadata that is embedded in those video files by the camera that shows when and sometimes where the video was shot. that is important for demonstrating the authenticity of your video. >> where do you download it to? >> the easiest thing to do is when you have your memory card or your phone, plug it into your computer and copy the files directly onto your computer without using any sort of processing or specialized software. it is that in full. -- it is that simple. once you have copied it onto your camera -- off your camera, you want to make sure you have two copies on two separate storage devices. as you know, hard drives fail

all the time. having two copies insurers if one drive fails, you another. the third thing you want to do is document your video with basic information like where, when, who shot the video, and basically what is going on. raw footage is not always evidence. >> what kind of support does witness provide to people out in the general public were doing this taping? >> we have created resources on how to film a protest, how to use a mobile phone, and our video. this to activists all around the world, including those in ferguson. some of our resources have been downloaded thousands of times since we sure that since the incident. >> we want to thank you for being with us, yvonne ng, senior activist for witness, who trains and supports people using video in their fight for human rights. she is co-author of, "activist'' guide to archiving video."

we will have a link online. we will do a post-show with you to talk about was some of the people have written in about have questions for you. 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 =ú?xcracy now!