01/29/16 01/29/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from park city, utah, this is democracy now! >> there's only one savior, and it isn't me. it is jesus christ. he came down to earth and died for our sins. what comes next after seven disastrous years of barack obama? than me tell you what the answer better not be, it better not be bernie sanders. bernie sanders is a socialist. i think he's a good candidate for president -- of sweden.

amy: last night, seven republican candidates met for the last debate before the iowa caucuses. donald trump boycotted and held a rally of his own. we will speak about the 2060 presidential race with a man who ran for president in 2012, not as a democrat or as a republican, but a third-party candidate, the former mayor of celtics city rocky anderson. ,then here at the sundance film festival, "audrie & daisy." months apart, two teenage girls in two different american towns are sexually assaulted and bullied -- audrie pott, in saratoga, california, and daisy coleman in maryville, missouri. both attempt suicide. one survives, the other does not. both stories make national headlines. today a democracy now! exclusive -- daisy coleman and her mother meet the mother of audrie pott, for the first time at our interview. >> i feel like audrie would have spoke out if she had saw someone

else. amy: do you know how many young women you have saved by speaking out? >> yes. amy: that is "audrie & daisy" here on democracy now! all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the world health organization has warned up to four million people in the americas could be infected with zika virus by the end of this year. while the virus itself is usually not life-threatening, it appears to be linked to microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads. at least 31 zika cases have now been reported in washington, d.c., and 11 states, including new york. all u.s. patients were infected abroad. costa rica has increased airport surveillance after confirming its first case, while officials in colombia are fumigating

homes. world health organization official dr. sylvain aldighieri spoke in geneva. start with the total number in the americas of more than 2 million cases transmitted, reported of dingo per year with a virus which is already for four years, you can come up with between 3 million and 4 million cases of zika in america. amy: scientists have linked rising temperatures from global warming to the increased incidence of mosquito-borne infections like zika. world health organization officials are slated to meet monday to decide whether to declare a public health emergency. seven republican presidential candidates faced off in a fox news-hosted debate in des moines, iowa, thursday night, while frontrunner donald trump hosted his own event three miles away. trump boycotted the debate after fox news refused to remove megyn kelly as one of the debate's moderators. we'll have more on the republican debate after headlines.

in geneva, the syrian peace talks are slated to begin today, although it is not yet clear which parties have agreed to participate. on thursday, the opposition coalition backed by saudi arabia said they would certainly not attend the talks unless food and medical aid is delivered to roughly 400,000 people in besieged cities. other opposition groups, including the armed wing of the syrian kurdish democratic union party, were not invited. turkey had threatened to boycott the talks if the syrian kurdish group participated. more than 250,000 people have died in syria over the past five years. an unnamed senior obama administration official has told the "new york times" that president obama is willing to consider "raising the stakes in both iraq and syria." this comes amid repeated calls from the pentagon to up the -- deploy more u.s. troops to fight the self-proclaimed islamic state. there are currently 3700 u.s. troops in iraq and a handful of special operations forces in syria.

meanwhile, the pentagon has announced that lieutenant general john "mick" nicholson has been chosen to replace general john campbell as the commander of international forces in afghanistan. nicholson is currently the head of nato's allied land command. his selection must be confirmed by the senate. this comes amid a deteriorating security situation in afghanistan that caused president obama to reverse his promise to withdraw the majority of u.s.troops by the end of last -- and of the year. newly discovered emails show michigan officials were trucking clean water to a state building in the city of flint last january, long before admitting to residents the water was poisoned. progress michigan, which obtained the emails, told mother mother jones they "blow a hole in the governor's timeline for when they knew or started to have concerns about flint water." the crisis began when an unelected emergency manager appointed by michigan governor rick snyder switched flint's water source to the corrosive flint river in a bid to save money. the fbi has released video of the fatal police shooting of robert lavoy finicum, the oregon militia spokesperson killed

during a traffic stop tuesday. the fbi says finicum was armed with a handgun and reached for his pocket right before he w shot. there are reportedly four people left at the federal wildlife reserve occupied by right-wing militia members for nearly a month. ammon buy, who w arreste ring the fatal traffic stop tuesday, has called for everyone to go home. a new report based on material from whistleblower edward snowden has revealed u.s. and british intelligence have been secretly spying on electronic feeds from israeli military drones and fighter jets under a program codenamed "anarchist." the intercept new site reports the spying dates back to 1998. in upstate new york, twelve protesters, including former cia analyst ray mcgovern have been arrested after blockading the main entrance of hancock air national guard base, where u.s. drones are piloted remotely. the blockade was made up of 30 life-sized cutouts of the late peace activist jerry berrigan, who died in july at the age of 95.

in texas, immigration authorities have prevented a salvadorian woman detained at the for-profit south texas family residential center in dilley, texas, from attending her medical appointments for epilepsy. 27-year-old susana is in the process of seeking asylum in the united states. she was detained on january 2 as part of the obama administration's controversial raids against central american families seeking asylum after fleeing violence in their home countries. she said she has had more than six epileptic seizures while in ice custody, but that ice officials have refused to release her and her son so she can return to atlanta, where she was living, to continue her medical treatment. >> we have been here for more than 20 two days, and the authorities have not given us any answers. i have my treatment in atlanta, and my son come also. i have an appointed january 27, and they have not let me leave so i can continue my outside treatment.

my son also has his appointment. he has to begin therapy for neurological delays. since i've been in custody of immigration, i've had more than six epileptic episodes and they have not let me leave. amy: speaking to democracy now! by phone from detention earlier this week. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. well, last night was the final republican debate before the iowa caucuses. seven republican presidential candidates faced off in a debate in des moines, iowa. one was missing -- the frontrunner, at least according to the polls. donald trump hosted his own event three miles away, saying he was boycotting the debate after fox news refused to remove anchor megyn kelly as one of its moderators. with trump gone, the seven remaining candidates went at it. this is texas senator ted cruz and florida senator marco rubio. president,lected keep an eye on the tarmac because i will be back.

2017 will not be flyover country. it will be fly-to country. [applause] secondly, let me say i'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. and, ben, you're a terrible surgeon. and now that we've gotten the donald trump portion out of the way -- [laughter] >> let's talk about electability, senator. time magazine once called you republican safety belt. >> there's only one savior, and it is not me. it is jesus christ who came down to earth and died for our sins and so -- i've always made that clear about that cover story. as far as the polls are concerned, i will come on monday night you will go to a caucus site and you'll be the first americans that vote in this election. you will be the first americans i get to answer the fundamental question, what comes next for

this country after seven disastrous years of barack obama? let me tell you what the answer better not become a better not be bernie sanders. bernie sanders is a socialist. i think bernie sanders is a good candidate forood president, of sweden. and if a that was florida senator marco rubio. before that, new jersey governor chris christie said he would get rid of funding for planned parenthood but this clip begins with debate moderator bret baier. >> governor christie, you talk a lot about entitlement reform and you say that is where the federal government can get savings needed to balance the budget. it can you name even one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all? >> yes. you want one? >> i want one. >> how about one i've done in new jersey, get rid of planned parenthood funding for the united states of america. >>anything bigger than that?

let me tell you something, when you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being , i can'tin the womb think of anything bigger than that. in 1994 in anoted article saying "i suprt pland parenthood privately with my personal contribution." earlier this month, he said that was a misquote come although the person the accused of misquoting him now works as his press spokesperson. you talk more about the what he 60 presidential race, we're joined by a man who ran for president in 2012, not as a democrat or as a republican, but a third-party candidate, rocky anderson, former mayor of salt lake city. who onceormer democrat endorsed mitt romney for governor of massachusetts. in 2012, he ran for president on the justice party ticket. he's also an attorney and the founder of "high road for human rights." rocky anderson, welcome back to democracy now! let's start with the last comment after all, we are in

utah, chris christie saying how he would cut the budget. >> he has given this great open question, what you going to do for smaller government, balance the budget, and he picks a miniscule element of our budget like cutting planned parenthood. and in utah, our governor cut planned parenthood funding because of this fraudulent story about this video that was taken. you know was suffered? it has been sex education and std treatment and education. and there is nobody else to fill the slot and state health departments -- officials have made that clear. amy: was in it mitt romney, and the same year, 1994? >> yet. romney admitted he also had contribute it to planned parenthood privately. i find it just unbelievable that these people -- you wonder who they really were and you mentioned i supported that

ronnie when he ran for governor. that was a different mitt romney. that was the moderate leading liberal man who won the governorship in massachusetts. but the day he decided to run for president, he switched on everything the weather was equal rights for gays and lesbians, whether he was support for roe versus wade, so that is what these people do, political opportunist and find where the polls are at the time and we saw perfect example when chris christie could have given a serious response to how are we going to balance our budget and what kind of entitlement reform are you talking about, what does he do? he fix that little miniscule piece of the budget, planned parenthood. amy: marco rubio, his comment about jesus christ. that's unbelievable. here he is asked about what has happened to him, "time" magazine said he was going to be the savior of the republican party. what does he do? panders to the religious right, the kind of devices comment that

is creating so much division across the board politically in this country, he focuses on the word "savior" is also righteously, there is only one savior, he who died for our sins. i think that is really disgusting political dialogue one we have got some new problems to be dealing with. but there were some good things last night, but mostly, not very good and some really ugly things that were said. amy: i want to turn to the cold saying ted cruz, the senator from texas, his neck and neck right now with donald trump. ted cruz, who defended his earlier statement said he would "carpet bomb areas of syria in an effort to fight the self proclaimed islamic state. >> i will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which i will fight terrorism, go after isis, hunt them down wherever they are and utterly and completely destroy isis.

you claim it is tough talk to discuss carpet bombing, it is not tough talk, it is a different fundamental military strategy than what we have seen from barack obama. barack obama right now, number one, over seven years, has dramatically degraded our military. just two weeks ago was the 25th anniversary of the first persian gulf war. when that war began, we had 8000 planes. today we have about 4000. when that war began, we have 529 ships. today, we have 272. you want to know what carpet bombing is? it is what we did in the first persian gulf war. 1100 air attacks a day, saturation bombing that utterly destroyed the enemy. right now, barack obama is launching between 15 and 30 air attacks a day. he is that arming the kurds. we need to define the enemy. we need to rebuild the military to defeat the enemy. and we need to be focused and take left -- lived the rules of

engagement so we're not sending our fighting men and women into, at with their arms tied behind her back. ted that is texas senator cruz. at the same time you haven't pentagon official telling the new york times that obama is considering raising the stakes in both iraq and syria. your comments? >> first of all, the idea of carpet bombing, every military leader in this country that has addressed that idea said he doesn't know what he is talking about stuff and i'm paraphrasing. outlined upare not in the desert so we can just go and wipe them out through carpet bombing. they are in villages and towns with innocent civilians. what is really frightening, he talks about getting rid of the rules of engagement. talking about getting rid of the geneva convention? i'm afraid jeb bush ordered on that as well, talking about getting the lawyers off the backs of the military. this is very frightening.

amy: let's turn to john kasich answering the question about his decision to expand medicaid in ohio. chris, here's what happened with medicaid in my state. we took the growth of medicaid from over 10% in my second budget to 2.5% without cutting off one person or cutting one benefit. the government. and now mom and dad can stay in their own home rather than being forced into a nursing home. and we decided we could bring $14 billion of our money -- i mean, washington doesn't have any money. it was our money will stop and we brought them back to tend to the mentally ill, because i don't think they ought to live in prison or live under a bridge, to treat the drug addicted so they're not in and out of the prisons. how has it worked? we have treated the drug addicted in our prisons and we released them into the community, and our recidivism rate is less than 20%. that's basically bordering on a america because of our great

prison director. the mentally ill? they have been stepped on for to long in a society, and we're beginning to treat them. amy: that is ohio governor john kasich. rockanderson >> that wathe high int of e debatefor repuican caidate t t to turnway from what have se in this country in terms of treatment of the mentally ill since the reagan years to talk, finally, about our nation committing to treatment of the mentally ill and the drug addicted rather than making our jails and prisons the places of first resort for whatever treatment they do get. mostly their housing. amy: during the debate, moderators took questions from youtube videos -- viewers including one who asked about hate crimes against muslims. >> in 2015, the number of hate comes against muslims in the u.s. has tripled. a social media, where i spent a lot of time, i've seen many attacks directed towards fellow muslims. this culture of hatred is only driving isis to radicalize,

recruit, and incite violence. as president, what would you do to address the toxic climate and promote increased tolerance in the united states? >> first of all, i think it is important when we're running for the highest office in the of land that we recognize we're living in dangerous times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences. donald trump, for example, i mentioned his name in case anyone was mentioning -- missing him. mr. trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all muslims. that creates an environment that is toxic in our own country. we need to focus on that and not these broad stink bentz that will make it harder for us to deal with isis. we need to do with isis in the caliphate, a strategy to destroy isis there. you can't do that without the cooperation of the muslim world the redness're as we are. i think it is support for us to be careful about the language we use, which is why the critical of donald trump disparaging

women and hispanics. that is not a sign of strength will stop making fun of disabled people? we will never win an election of we don't have a more broader, unifying message. and you go that his former florida governor jeb bush, who many thought would be the front runner until he was trumped and cruised. rocky anderson, your thoughts on what he said? >> so absolutely important to encapsulated the way jeb bush did. what trump is saying has real consequences and there is this atmosphere of hate that is generated when trump talks about excluding muslims from this nation and his demeaning comments about women, people disabilities, and hispanics. the most shocking about this race is that anyone is taking him seriously at this point and supporting such a bigoted misogynist as donald trump. amy: we are in you talk right now. , youis where mitt romney

know, came from, where his family came from, lives here. he made a deal with george bush -- jeb bush, a meeting that was held like romney was going to run but that it was jeb bush. >> it looked like mitt romney was going to jump into this race. believe me, if it were the old, rasul, moderate mitt romney, he would be very welcomed in this race. amy: you mean the planned parenthood supporting mitt romney? obamacare is based on romney care in massachusetts, which action he does provide funding for abortion. product of the heritage foundation. we all know where he came from. basically written by the insurance companies. but i think it was so important to finally -- whether trump was there are not, to address the real consequences of this kind of hateful, bigoted dialogue in this country. you about ato ask

lawsuit that you launched six months ago. >> yes, they talked about surveillance last night. like, let's just forget about our civil liberties and our freedoms when it comes to fighting isis. you know, our country has been a lot worse danger than this, but i filed an action about six month ago against the fbi, the nsa, geoe bush,ickheney, dington d other and it was based onhat we fnd outrom a ory thatroke in e wall reet joual, and've nfirmed is and me from h in a -- insider at the nsa, that for the first time in our nation's history, the nsa basically put a cone, a surveillance cone over geographic areas, including selig city and park city -- amy: where we are right now. >> and grabbing the contents of every single incoming and outgoing e-mail, text message, and the metadata of every single

dust doing amy: this was 2200 george w. bush. >> during the winter olympics. amy: has the administration admitted this? >> when you call the spokesperson, they say they won't admit or deny. they still haven't denied it, they do say, you don't have standingr you capursue ts, can't seek injunctn agains thcontinue storage of these communications. and we know given the nsa philosophy, they poured everything they can get. amy: senator warren has, wasn't he the head of the intelligence and you were a utah senator? >> yes, and he basically admitted this happened because he justified it. he said, this was just a few month afterward. very strange that people like former senator bob bennett and senator hatch would justify people in the executive branch committing federal felonies under laws passed by the united states congress. amy: how is it a federal felony? >> under the foreign

intelligence surveillance act, passed following the revelations of the church committee in the late 1970's about these very kinds of security abuses of our civil rights. you remember the church committee. they passed laws to say this is an ever going to happen again, and we had a president in george bush who said those laws don't apply to me. amy: we will continue to follow that. thank you so much, rocky anderson, former mayor of salt lake city, utah. former democrat who once endorsed mitt romney for governor of massachusetts. in 2012, rocky anderson ran for president on the justice party ticket. now an attorney practicing in selig city founder of "high road , for human rights." when we come back, you don't want to miss this, "audrie & daisy." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "christ for president" by billy bragg & wilco, written by woody guthrie.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. there broadcasting from sundance film festival in park city, utah. as we turn to a new film about two high school teenagers who were sexually assaulted and bullied on social media in cases that made national headlines. audrie pott and daisy coleman never knew each other. daisy lived in the small, rural town of maryville, missouri. audrie lived in the silicon valley suburb of saratoga, california. but their stories were similar. both said they were sexually assaulted while intoxicated and unconscious by boys they knew and trusted. both were harassed on social media afterwards. and both attempted to take their own lives. daisy survived. audrie did not. the new documentary, "audrie & daisy," which premiered here at the sundance film festival , examines the lives of these two teens and the impact of what happened to them on their families, their communities and the national conversation. i sat down here at sundance with daisy coleman, her mother

melinda coleman, and audrie pott's mother, sheila pott. you'll hear from them all later in the broadcast. but first, i spoke with the film's husband-and-wife directing team, bonni cohen and jon shenk. together they've made films on , topics ranging from elections in afghanistan to the ouster of maldives president mohamed nasheed. i asked bonni cohen why they decided to make "audrie & daisy." >> jon and i are married with two teenaged kids of our own. we saw the need to make this film. we solve this sort of paralysis, really. amy: do you have boys or girls? >> we have a 16-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl. there was a sense of paralysis and fear, ourselves, our friends, our community, around issues involving social media and the use of it in the misuse of it. we started to get exposure to these stories of these girls in how theyol and then

were some scrolling bullied on social media. we felt we had to do something about it. i think it was probably the hardest film we've ever made. amy: that was bonni cohen, who directed "audrie & daisy" with her husband, jon shenk. we turn now to the mother of one of the girls whose story is told in this powerful new documentary. on september 2, 2012, audrie pott, a 15-year-old high school sophomore in saratoga, california, went to a party with a small group of friends. after she got drunk and passed out, three boys who had been her friends since middle school, undressed her, sexually assaulted her, and wrote all over her body with permanent marker. they drew on her breasts. they wrote "anal" above her buttocks with an arrow pointing down. throughout the assault, they took pictures on their cell phones. when she woke up, audrie had no idea why her body was covered in marker. her facebook messages in the aftermath show her desperate attempts to piece together what happened. she pleaded with one of the boys to delete the photos. she said "i now have a , reputation i can never get rid of," she wrote. her peers taunted and bullied her. "you have no idea what it's like to be a girl," audrie wrote in one of her final messages.

eight days after the assault, audrie hanged herself. her mother, sheila pott, found her hanging from a shower head. this is sheila's story. >> audrie told me she was spending the night at her girlfriends house, which is normal, every weekend activity. either at my house or her friends house. and they have planned a party because one of the parents was out of town. they invited 11 or 12 other friends they had grown up with since middle school. and she gotinking .xtremely, you know, inebriated she was at the point where she could not control her motor skills. and the boys that were at this party took her into -- took her into a

room, lock the door, took off her close andrew on her lewd things to her.d amy: they wrote on her with a magic marker? >> they wrote on her. amy: and they put arrows to her body parts? >> yes. they were sexual suggestive things they wrote, degrading things. and they took pictures. and she did not know any of this happened because she was unconscious. so she woke up the next day to find herself without her clothes and the aftermath of what had happened. i mean, they had colored half of her face black, in addition to writing "someone was here" on her breast and "anal" on her

back. i mean, very, very degrading things. and she is no recollection of what had happened at all. and then she found out that morning from her friends that they had taken pictures. of course, you know, she was extremely private person. very self-conscious of her body. so it was devastating. remember, things i which was out of character for her, issue call me that morning -- is she called me that morning. she said, "mom, can you pick me up?" she is never called me to pick her up early. it was always me,. i medially said, "i'll be there." when i picked her up, i noticed there was a green line down her leg. i asked her about it. she just kind of shrugged it off and said, oh, so and so wrote

something. you know, they did doodle on each other a lot in middle school. this was the second week of her sophomore year. press too much on it. i could not see anything that would lead me to believe that she was assaulted -- at that time. amy: so what ensued over the next few days? >> she went to school. it was the following week, so she went to school. her friends were over that we can for a sleepover. it was fairly normal. that monday, she called me to pick her up, and i said -- it was a relish, and a said, what's wrong? and she would not tell me. i get pressing her and pressing her, you need to tell me. she said, i want to leave. when i got to school to pick her quiet. was

i kept pressing her, what's wrong? you need to tell me. i asked her, did you get into a fight with your friends? and she said, "i only have two friends." amy: and this was just soon after this, you took her home and she went into her room. >> she went into her room and i inside and we'll talk in a few minutes." .ecause we always had talked we were close. she confided in me a lot of things, her friends did, too. i talked to these kids about everything, about teen drinking, being responsible online. she went into the bathroom and i went to check on her a short while later, and she didn't answer. and that is when i immediately broke in the door. and i couldn't believe this

would happen. the whole two days we were in the hospital, three days, actually, we were racking our brains, what went wrong? it wasn't until the following sunday after her memorial that we knew there was an assault. amy: and you found that out by -- >> one of the girls that was at the party came forward to the administrator. she couldn't even bring herself ittell him directly, she put in a letter. she wrote a letter to the administration saying, this is what happened and who was involved. so they started an investigation. so this happened thursday before her memorial on saturday. .hey started the investigation they never called us to tell us

that in assault had happened. it wasn't until the sheriff's office came to my house on sunday evening that we found out. amy: talk about the lawsuit that you filed and talk about the system and whether you felt that these young men were held accountable. quickly we learned very in a juvenile case that we weren't going to see really justice for audrie in that system. they were very upfront with us and told us, it's very unusual to even see jail time in a crime like this. there were convictions. as you know, the sentences worth 30 to 45 days. amy: for two. >> for two of them. because it is juvenile, it is

confidential and they go back to school, to the same school -- most of them. and their classmates don't even know what had happened. it was very important for us to clear her name and for people to unconscious, was she did not consent to what happened. amy: audrie wrote on facebook -- reputation for night i don't even remember and the whole school knows." she said this to a friend on facebook days before she committed suicide. >> we fou the facook meages probly two to ree wes after e passedway. it ge us a spshot in how shelt. she fe like s couldn't contl what hpened. she didn't remeert. the rors areorphing t of corol. shdidn't know wt to belve becae sheidn't remember any

of i y: shelearly kept asking, even the young men who were involved -- she knew them from childhood. what happened? what did you do to me? >> yes, and she pleaded with them to delete the pictures, how could you do this to me? you don't understand, you know, word gets out. and i know now that she felt like it wasn't just her high school the new. she felt like other high schools in the area new as well. amy: so you soon. talk about the settlement you arrive that. >> because it was very important for us to clear her name, we really wanted the accountability and the admission of what actually happened. so that is why there were so many nonmonetary terms in the settlement. there were terms of they had to

do 10 presentations -- i think the were 10 on their own, two with the foundation was set up, the audrie pott foundation. they had to admit publicly what they did to her and apologized to her. and, of course, they had to agree to be in the documentary. and then we asked that they ask the school that she could graduate with her class. futurejust fell like her was taken from her, and we wanted her school -- you know, that was her family -- to know this happened. she did not ask for it. she did not deserve it. it is wrong, and we didn't want it to happen to other girls. amy: in this unusual requirement that they speak to the people

who are making a film about audrie, that they speak to jon shenk and bonni cohen, why was that important to you? >> we thought that it would be powerful coming from them if they had true remorse and they could talk to other students and young men about choices, about making, you know, the wrong choice. obviously, it didn't really work out that way. i don't think that to this day they feel accountability for their actions. amy: let's go to john b first thing question by a lawyer and then being questioned by the film makers. >>going ba in time, t party happen september 3, 2012, right? >> yes

>> how did you become aware of the party? >> i don't remember. it is pretty blurry, it was almost four years ago. here is this party being hosted by audrie and emily. my first party of ever been to. i was a freshman in high school. i thought i was cool and stuff. i drove my friends there. amy: when you hear john b. saying this, what are your feelings? i don't really think he understands the consequences of what he did. i don't sense that there is real

remorse there. -- there was a sense of trying to put the blame on someone else from the very beginning, and i think -- it's still there. amy: do you think the justice system failed you? >> absolutely. amy: what did you want to see happen? >> for one thing, i would have liked to see a longer sentence. i would have liked to see them expelled from their school so that there was a message sent to the other classmates that this is not ok. i mean, the message that was said, basically because they weren't expelled, "girls, joe, ford because we won't take this serious." in the message should the boys was, "well, you will get a slap on the hand and then you go back to your same activities as before." thought was just a shame. amy: that is sheila pott, mother of audrie pott.

audrie was 15 when she hanged herself eight days after she was sexually assaulted at a party. when we come back you'll hear , from daisy coleman who had a terrifyingly similar story. she also attended suicide, but unlike audrie, she survived. she and her mother melinda met sheila pott for the first time at this interview. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: music composed by tyler strickland from the film, "audrie & daisy." the images show daisy's posts on social media. our radio listeners can go to democracynow.org to see them. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we're broadcasting from the sundance film festival in park city, utah. as we return to our conversation with the subjects of the powerful new documentary "audrie & daisy." in early january, 2012, 14-year-old high school freshman daisy coleman and her 13-year-old friend, paige parkhurst, were invited to a small gathering of high school athletes. the girls had already been drinking when the boys came to pick them up. daisy blacked out at the party. she says matthew barnett sexually assaulted her while she was unconscious, while jordan zech, a star high school wrestler, took videos. barnett would later claim the encounter was consensual. daisy's friend paige was sexually assaulted by another

teen admitted to the assault and was sentenced in juvenile court. charges were brought and dropped against the boys, raising suspicions the nodaway county prosecutor was influenced by matthew barnett's role as a football player and his grandfather's position as a missouri state representative. when daisy's mother, melinda, began to raise questions, she lost her job. the family's house in maryville mysteriously burned to the ground. daisy says she was suspended from the cheerleading squad and incessantly bullied. people told her she was "asking for it" and would "get what was coming." she was hounded on social media, called a skank and a liar and urged her to kill herself, which she tried to do, multiple times. a special prosecutor was appointed two years after the alleged assault, barnett pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment. his punishment? two years probation, 100 hours of community service, and $1800 restitution to daisy's family. so let's go to daisy coleman here at the sundance film festival in park city, utah,

along with her mother, melinda coleman, and sheila pott, the mother of audrie pott, who committed suicide after she was sexually assaulted and bullied online afterwards. again, melinda and daisy coleman met audrie's mother sheila for the first time when they arrived for our interview. we began with an excerpt from the film, "audrie and daisy," which just premiered here at sundance. here, daisy coleman and her young friend, paige, alternate speaking, beginning with daisy. >> we literally jumped out my window. we walked out to the car. >> they kind of drove to a neighborhood. >> we had to walk through a couple of backyards to get to his house, secret kind of tell he was hiding it from his parents. we had to sneak in through the basement window. >> there were five guys there.

jordan and aick, younger friend of theirs that took paige into matt's sister's bedroom. >> pretty much as soon as we got to the house, we were separated. i was taken into another room. >> someone mentioned having me drink ouof the bitch cup if y dra so muchyou were this tou forhatever. and since i have three brothers and it was guys kind of taunting me to do it, i kind of almost saw it as a challenge like, yeah, all show you, i'm not just a little girl, kind of thing. >> i drank all of that and had quite a few swigs straight from the bottle, which probably amounted to like 11 or 12 shots by that time. >> i remember a dog ran up on

the couch and sat on my lap. and i said something really loudly about it. and they told me to quiet down. and that is literally the last thing i remember. amy: that is a clip from "audrie & daisy." we are talking here the sundance film festival to daisy coleman, talking about her experience. how did you know these boys? >> i knew these boys through my oldest brother charlie. he played football with them. he was friends with them. they came over to the house once in a while to hang out with him. they were boys i trusted. amy: how did you end up in your front yard? >> personally, i do not know the exact story how i got to my front yard, but from what i have heard from everyone's story is that they had to carry me out of the basement window and carry me to a car, and that i was throwing up all over the place

and that they just told paige to go back inside in my room and i just needed some arab and i would be ok if she left me out there. amy: january in missouri. the lender, you are daisy's mother. you know what happened next because you discovered her outside. daisyn how you discovered playing in the snow. 10 until 7:00 in the morning and heard something outside in the yard. at first i thought it was the dogs. i just heard something. i'm not even sure what it was. -- myngest's letter dentist some was sleeping in the living room. he heard something. we both jumped up and ran outside. daisy was in the front yard in the grass and she had no shoes or socks on the machine at a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, and h hair wa frozen to the gund.

tristanston said, said, he thought she was dead because she was blue and kind of sparkly from the frost and everything. we scooped her up into green side, and that is when we were trying to figure out what had happened. amy: you brought her into the bathroom to put her in a hot tub? >> correct. amy: what did you discover there? >> i had some suspicions at that time, but we still did know anything. we still do need to know how she got outside are what had happened. and somesome bruising really read places on her body. amy: on her genital area. >> correct. but i think i was still kind of in denial at that point. we actually took her to the hospital for frostbite that was on her hands and feet. and it wasn't until the doctor

came in and told me about the tears. and i said, "i know what that means, but would you just say a for me because i'm having a hard time right now?" and he said she was raped. daisy and i both burst out crying at that point. amy: were the boys brought up on charges? >> initially, they did press charges, but they dropped them. amy: i want to go to a clip of the sheriff. this is a clip from "audrie & daisy." he is talking about what happened to you, daisy. >> unfortunately, you have a lot this thatinvolved in are running around telling a lot of stories. and without pointing fingers, it serves to benefit people's causes by making a lot of things up that really didn't happen and

really doesn't exist. but don't underestimate the need for attention. especially young girls post up amy: so that is the sheriff darren white. what is your response? >> without using any derogatory terms, i believe sheriff white is correct when he says there's a lot of pressure on young females, but in the same respect, what young female would put themselves through that for popularity when they aren't even going to gain that? logic dohat kind of you use to come up with that? amy: your case certainly got national attention when these boys were charged and then the charges were dropped. anonymous got involved. in october 2013, the hacker group anonymous joined the chorus of condemnation against marysville handling of the case. this is from the video they posted online and it is replayed in "audrie & daisy." >> defend the some girls at the

police are too coward our group to do their jobs, the justice system has abandoned them, then someone else will have to stand for them. berryville, expect us. amy: when did you see that video of anonymous? how did you feel about it? >> i was terrified at first. i had no clue who anonymous was. they were just men in masks to me at that time, but after i kind of figured everything out, i really appreciated her help. amy: you wrote a text. you wrote "since this happened, i have been in hospitals too many times to count. i found it impossible to love at times. i've gained and lost friends. i no longer dance or compete in pageants will stop i'm different now. i can't ever go back to the person i once was. that one i took it all away from me. i'm nothing more than just human, but i also refuse to be a victim of cruelty any longer."

those are your words, daisy. can you continue talking about how you came out of this and how you dealt with what didn't happen in your community, the whole issue of justice? >> i almost believe that this ofle situation did strip me being, you know, human, and what i used to be. what i believe as a stripped me of everything that i used to be, i was able to start from a new building block and build on to someone else. and i think that really shapes who i am today. and i feel like, you know, i think i'm a force to be reckoned with with mary bill now. i don't think they're going to be getting away with everything that they do now. amy: you went to college on a sports scholarship? >> yes, a wrestling scholarship. amy: and what advice do you have to young women and then two young men? -- to young men? >> for young women, i say look

out for each other. as females, we have to stick together because no one else is going to have our back into the young males, start learning from an early age what you should do at a situation like that or if a situation does occur like that incapacitated,is it is all about the mindset that you create as you're growing up. amy: and her thoughts as you sit next -- you both, melinda and daisy, you are meeting sheila for the first time. >> yes. amy: do you feel like you know her daughter audrie -- or at least know the experience that she went through? >> i feel like in some way i know her, but in other ways, i don't. i know audrie from what i have heard and i have kind of hated this picture of who she was. i don't know her like her mom did, but i feel like i know her

in my perspective. it was really hard for me to come here and meet her because i kept asking my friends, what do i say to her? i didn't speak out soon enough. amy: what do you mean? >> i feel like audrie would have spoke out if she would have saw that someone else was there. amy: do you know how many young women you have saved by speaking out? >> yeah. amy: has people written to you? have people come up and talk to you? >> i've had millions of letters of people come to me publicly and over facebook. amy: do you feel like you have saved lives? >> yes. amy: how old are you? >> i'm 18 right now. amy: what year are you in

college? >> a freshman in college. amy: melinda, how do you feel about daisy taking this stand? as we heard from the film makers, it is extremely rare in this country for young woman daisy's age to stand up. >> i'm really proud of her. i think she has been incredibly strong. i just think she's a great person, and i'm so happy she is in my life. she is my hero. sheila, as you may daisy and melinda for the first time, what are your feelings today? what do you have to say to daisy? >> i'm so proud of what you have done. i mean, it is really amazing. -- you are the hero. and you have saved so many lives.

and don't ever doubt yourself. you are strong. you are a survivor. you are an example to so many that struggle. there's not a minute that i don't -- that i don't think that, if audrie would have survived, i don't know that we could have come forward with her story. she was so private, i don't know that she could have done it like you did. it is amazing. it is amazing. amy: sheila, what do you say to parents of young women or young men today? >> i really feel in my heart that it has to start with conversations in the home. sonsts talking to their about the way they treat women

and, you know, about being responsible, about being men, being an example. and i feel the same way about young women. it is not about being popular. it's not about having boys like you. it is about being true to yourself and taking care of your friends. there was something that one of the probation officer said to us in our criminal trial, and she said, "audrie needed a hero that night and no one stood up." speak to high school students through the foundation, i asked these young people to be the hero. amy: sheila pott and daisy and melinda coleman, thank you so much. amy: that is sheila pott, her

daughter audrie and her self after she was sexually assaulted. daisy and melinda met sheila for the first time in this interview about the ought -- documentary "audrie & daisy." [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

- hello, i'm john cleese. have you ever met a shaman or a spirit healer? well, if not, you're about to, because in this very special program, an eskimo shaman from greenland will be meeting for the first time a mayan spirit healer right here in our global spirit studio. it's a meeting of two wisdom traditions who have more in common than you might think, starting with what we all have in common: mother earth. so it's time to settle back and take a slow, deep breath as we join our trusted guide and host, phil cousineau, on this uniquely indigenous episode of global spirit, the first "internal travel" series.