veda washington-abusaleh amy: from the democratic national convention in philadelphia, this is democracy now! my friends, we are going to have a great convention in philadelphia. amy: the democratic national convention is opening today in philly, and it is the growing

scandal that led to the resignation of debbie wasserman schultz, thehe party's chair. we will get the latest on the leaked dnc e-mails and why bernie sanders supporters oppose the selection of tim kaine as her running mate. and we will go to the streets of philadelphia, where thousands marched sunday calling for democrats to embrace clean energy solutions. pennsylvanians against fracking. it represents the things fracking has taken from us, clean air and clean water. it has taken people, our friends, that we can never get back. it has takaken our bush andnd or wildlife. it has taken justice away from us. amy: we will hear from two of the founding members of the newly formed group, national puerto rican agenda, which held an allll-day summit in new jers, and we will speak with a longtime philadelphia community

activist who recently became part of the philadelphia city council. all that and more, coming up. amy: welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, we're breaking with convention: war, peace, and the presidency. there is massive party turmoil. the chair, debbie wasserman schultz, has resigned following the leak of 20,000 e-mails revealing of the democratic party favored hillary clinton and worked behind the scenes to defeat bernie sanders. the e-mails werere released friy by wikileaksks. it shows t top dnc staffers suggested things about bernie sanders' religion, and the proposed planting a news story that the sanders campaign was a mess. multiple dnc members have

apologized. party vice chair donna brazile will be the interim chair through november. clinton and outs washington salts -- washington s scholz wil be the honorary chair of the clinton campaign 50 have the program to which he called salts longtime friend and said she will support her congressional reelection race. anator sanders has backed primary race. to hear the exclusive intervieww with j julian assange from ourur other hour of democracy now!, go to democracynow.org. on sunday here in philadelphia, hundreds of bernie sanders supporters rallied ahead of the opening of the dnc, many outraged by the democratic party's bias against sanders. this is ian o'malley. of the dnce because wikileaks that showed hillary was given an unfair advantage from the get-go and bernie was given a disadvantage. what disturbed me is we knew

this all along and have been trying to say it, and we all felt a little crazy in the back of our heads knowing it was corrupt. now to have it spelled out in 20,000 e-mails, i do not think it gets more clear or more disturbing than that. amy: meanwhile, thousands more protesters marched in the streets of philadelphia sunday to demand a band on fracking and a transition to clean energy. this is one of the protesters. i amam 16 years old, and representing latino and did judas and youth desk and voices. and youth we cannot support an industry that threatens lives in our communities where it across pennsylvania, new york, and across the country being affected by fracking and extraction spirit we need 100% renewable energy by 2026. amy: hillary clinton has named virginia senator tim kaine to be her running mate at was elected

to the senate in 2012. before that, he chaired the dnc at he is a practicing catholic that says he is personally opposed to abortion, although planned parenthood has given him a 100 percent rating based on his senate vote. he has been a supporter of so-called free trade agreements and voted for fast track, the transpacific partnership. he spent a year and honduras with just what missionaries during the u.s.-backed dirty war in 1980. testlater in the product broadcast. a new cnn poll shows donald trump leading hillary clinton 44% to 39% and a four have a way matchup. in a poll, gary johnson received 9%. green party management -- jill stein received 3%. this comes as roger ailes was suspended, and he resigned amongst multiple accusations of harassment. here is chuck todd. quite side do not want to comment, but h he has been a

friend of mine for a long time, and d i can tell you that some f the women thatat are complainin, i k know how much he has helpedf them, and even recently, and when theyrite books that were fairly recently released and they say wononderful things abot hihi and now a all of a sudden,, they a t these horrible ththings abouout him, it is veryry sad. bebecause he i is a very good person. i alwaways found him to b be jua very, very gooood person, and by ththe way, a veryry talented pe. look what he has done. ththough i feel very badlyly, ba lot of people think he is going to run my campaign. my campaign is doing pretty well. amy: meanwhile, trump also told chuck todd that he e expanded hs call for a ban on immigration during his speech at the rnc thursday.. >> this feels like a slighght rl back. should we interpreted it as that? mr. trump: i do not think s so. you could say it is an expansion. table were so upset when i usesd the word muslim -- - oh, you cannot use the w word muslim.

remembmber this, and i am ok wih it, becausese i am talkingg territitory instead of mususlim. but remember this, our is writteten, but it does notot necessarily give us e right toto commit suicide, ok? now wewe have religious, you kn, evererybody wanants to be prote, and that is great, andd that is the wonderful part of our constitution. i view it differently. why are we committing suicide? amy: the virginia governor says he will sign individual clemency grants for tens of thousands of former felons. the promise comes as the virginia state supreme court ruled against an executive order he signed in april that would have restored voting rights to about 200,000 people convicted of felonies who have completed their sentences. afghanistan observed a national day of mourning sunday, day after a suicide bomber killed at least 80 people demonstrating peacefully in cop cop in -- in kabul. it was about a high-power electrical transmission line

being billed. this is a relative of one of the bombing victims. yesterday's incident was a tragic incident against the movement of justice. this is the first attack against a justice movement. our familyt many of and friends here. we have come here to bury our martyred and name the hill the martyred hill. amy: meanwhile, memorials were held this weekend in germany for victims of a mass shooting on friday near a shopping center in munich. german police say 18-year-old ali sonboy killed 9 people with a handgun in an apparently random attack before killing himself. an investigator said sonboly appeared to have been obsessed with mass shootings and begun planning his attack after visiting the site of a school shooting that left 15 dead in the german town of winneden. in fort myers, florida, two people were killed and at least

16 wounded in a shooting early this morning. police said they were investigating the shootings but there was no potential motive or suspects for the attack. the attack at the blue nightclub cubs a little more than the attack of the lgbt nightclub in orlando, killing 49 people in one of the deadliest mass shootings in u.s. history. black lives matter activists held demonstrations and at least half a dozen cities in the u.s. over the weekend, including houston, texas, springfield, missouri, and in florida and north carolina. seven people arrested after a set-in and police escort is friday to demand answers in the case of a fatal police shooting of an african-american man earlier this month. police say the man was carrying an assault rifle. his family hired a lawyer to see if the shooting was justified. the wnba has reversed its decision to find players for wearing black t-shirts to on a recent items of police violence in the u.s. the players were the t-shirts earlier this month after the

killings by police of two african american men, alton sterling in baton rouge, louisiana, and philando castile, in minnesota. the wnba announced fines of $5,000 for three teams last week, saying players violated the uniform regulations. the announcement comes with a barrage of this is an from wba -- wnba players and other athletes. in 2014, no fines were level when members of the nba or t-shirts to draw attenention to the death of eric garner at the hands of police in staten island. a judge had an ohio attorney handcuffed and taken into custody after she refused to take up a black lives matter button. the youngstown municipal court judge found it - -- the attorney in contempt of court, and sentenced her to five days in jail. they lawyer said her first amendment rights h had been violated. >> as an act of civil sobediencece, i a asaying that. i nonoanti-policice. i work w with law enforcecement every day. i hold them m in highest regard. i do believe all lives matter,

to stay for the record, but at this point, they do not all matter equally. that is a problem in the justice system. amy: she was released friday pending an appeal. and the father of one of the 43 students who disappeared in symptom o or 2014 is asking f fa meeting wiwith president obama. president barackk o obama, i one of f theff students who disappeared b bthe mexican governmement. how is it posossible you are gog to meeeet with mexican president tomorrow when this person is repressing, , lling, and disappearing my memexican brothersrs? i i would lilike to receivee ann invitation to meet you and explain to you what is really happening in my country. thank you very much. amy: president obama met with the mexican president and washington on friday. those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org -- we are breaking with convention: war,

peace, and the presidency. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from philadelphia. i am with juan gonzalez. juan: welcome to listeners and viewers around the country and around the world. the democratic national convention begins here today in philadelphia, that tension is rising amongst supporters of hillary clinton and bernie sanders. on sunday the democratic national committee chairwoman and florida congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz resigned following the release of nearly 20,000 e-mails revealing how the democratic party favored hillary clinton and worked behind the scenes to discredit and defeat bernie sanders. the e-mails were released friday by wikileaks. is: senator sanders scheduled to is because the democratic convention tonight. according to h his campaign, sanders will state hillary clinton is by far superior to donald trump. he is also expected to praise the democrats for a greeting to what he described as the most regressive platform and democratic party history.

that sanders lost one major battle with the platform when the democratic national committee even needed an amendment brought by sanders delegates to abolish superdelegates. jelani us now is ed with intercept. welcome. it is great to have you with us. talked about this super delegate challenge. campaign sanders brought a challenge to what is called the dnc rules c committe, whwhich sets a very's party functions, the ruleses, and basicacally createss sort of the template for how presidential every fourre run years for the democratic party. sanders and delegates brought a getlution saying we should rid of the superdelegate system. superdelegates are basically unelected party it links that are basically an equal vote per delegate versus every pledged delegate. roughly 15% of the total

delegate count is superdelegates, and they tend to be party elites, such as former mayors and former elected officials. some actually are currently paid lobbyists either for multinational corporarations or for foreign governments. the sanders campaign argued that this was an undemocratic c setu, that hundreds of the superdelegates had pledged support before a single state hahad voted, tilting the raids n her favor, tilting delegate counts in her favor, and using their own constituent list to back her. that amendment failed. 108, thatlieve amendment was defeated. there were a number of folks at the rules committee that argued the chrysostom allowed for more diversity, sort of a curious argument given at something like 58% of the superdelegates are men, which is nowhere near gender parity, which is actually a law or pledged delegates, that each state convention has to send a gender paired allegation. we had a number of arguments

like that that were somewhat curious. that amendment was defeated. however, another amendment was offered as a compromise that basically said the clinton campaign and the sanders campaign and the dnc would set up a so-called unity commission, and they would recommend to that mission that all of the superdelegates were not currently elected official or in high positions of the party, that their vote for the presidential nominee would have to be with how their states voted in the actual election. juan: for those who are not aware, how does the superdelegate, how does the situation develop originally? ofbasically, it is a matter over an number of decades, we saw party leaders look at their own voters as sort of activists of agreed a situation where maybe they would bring a candidate to the floor that the party holders oppose. it was a way for the party to

assert some level of control over the election. power has diminished somewhat since they started. i think it was some the closer to a 20% of delegates in 2008 were superdelegates, and this year, 15%. so it is not necessarily that theyey played a decisiveve rolet they havave always sort of playd a role in signaling were e the partrty wants its nominee to be. amy: i want to talk about the leak of the democratic national committee e-mails, revealing of the democratic party favored hillary clinton and worked behind the scecenes to defeat bernie sanders. sunday night, hillary clinton appeared on "60 minutes" with her running mate tim kaine. she s s asked about t the lelead e-mails. > you have peop i in the democrcratic n national committe who e suppososed to bebe if you will, agnonostic abobout who the nominee is going t to be. and they seem m to have t the tb on the s scale for you. theyeeeem to be woworking againt bebernie s sandersrs, their fefw

democrat. mrmrs. clinton: again, ii do not know anything. ii do not know a anything about these e-e-mails. i have not followed it. butt i am vevery proud of the campaign thahat an, , and i have very proud of the cacampaign is senar r sanders raran. wakes inin your view, , in the effort in ththe dncnco favor one candatate or another would have been ann improper? mrs.s. clinton: again, i i not have any information about this, so i cannot answer specifically. amy: that was hillary clinton on "60 minutes." the significance of whatt she said? >> it is interesting that she said that, because her campaign put out a statementnt, i believe it was saturday that may have been sunday, saying that, hey, these e-mails are part of a russian conspiracycy. ththey hacked the dndnc to help donald trump. her campaign has quite a bit more does a bit more to say about it that she is willing to say. they seem to be saying it is not really a big deal but is in these, it is just a plot by a foreign government.

it is interesting that the candidate h herself and the campaign are giving confnflictig messages,, b but it is something that she shohould speak to appeared a lot of people voted in the primary, and 13 million backed sanders, and d i'm susure many other people who wanted to see if this process wawas run fairly. i think ththe e-mails, to a lare extent, show it was not. juan: and the signal seasons when debbie wasserman schultz resigns as the chair but immediately hired into hillary clinton's campaign? what it is sort of a lateral move for debbie wasserman schultz, and his and said the dnc was to degree favoring clinton. that viewers should remember that debbie wasserman schultz is one of the cochaiairs of clint's primarary campaign in 2008, i believe. she had been loyal to clinton for years and years. it is not surprising that, despite her stepping down of the dnc, that clinton feels like she owned her something.

amy: let's talk about tim kaine. this is senator sanders speaking on "meet the press" about senator kaine. mr. sanders: i think he is a smart guy, a very nice guy. he is more conservative than i am i would have preferred to see something like elizabeth were in , yes. amy: that was bernie sanders. >> and other s serious story w e broke onon thursday, which was o five days before cain was picked, i interviewed him about the transportation -- the transpacific partnership, and he said he was undecided on voting in favor or against. he said he liked the intellectual property protection, which would raise prices for the very poor. two days later, they did damage control, and then they said cain opposes the transpacificic partnership know, just like we do, because in this form, it is not acceptable. it is interesting that there has been such a swing and what he is

saying. i have known him for years. i have followed his career. i think he is an ethical man, a public servant, no doubt, but he supported so-called right to work. he has supported the transpacific partnership until a few days ago. he has supported offshore drilling off the coast of virginia. he has definitely deferred to business and corporations in ways that bernie sanders does not want and probably the majority of democratic voters in america do not want. it suggests that clinton would implement tpp. >> the head of the u.s. chamber hecommerce, basically what said quite recently was that he believed clinton would implement the tpp, despite what she is saying now. he said he does not necessarily by the election rhetoric coming from the political parties, and he may have of reference for clinton.

i believe last week he was interviewed earlier this month, and he was asked, you know, does business prefer clinton or trump, and he said, well, we do not know yet. toddunusual answer from donahue e given the fact that te chamber of commerce has traditionally been allied with republicans. they spent tens of millions of dollars in 2010 to get out house and democrats. yet, they say favorable things about hillary clinton, not quite as favorable as trump. amy: ed, thank you for being here. we will link to your piece in the intercept at democracynow.org. philadelphiae in at the dememratic natitional convention with expanded two-hour daily coverage of democracy now! stay with us. ♪ [music break]

22nd century" by nina simone. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org -- we are breaking with convention: war, peace, and the presidency. i'm amy goodman. juan gonzalez appeared juan: the democratic national convention gets underway today. 50,000 visitors are descending upon the city am including delegates, the media, and activist's. many will see god well-known historic sites such as the liberty bell and independence hall, just a couple blocks away of there, the site signing of the declaration of

independence, and the u.s. constitution. for local residents and he looked officials, they hope to bring a digital lesson on site in the city of brotherly love, philadelphia's chinatown, one of the last loan come communities of color in this inner-city corridor. the area has lost one-third of its housing and half of its land to development projects over the last few decades. urban renewal and gentrification threatens to displace residents. amy: at the last 15 years, chinatown's residents have organized and fought back thomas successfully fending off a plan to build a $600 million is both stadium, and pushing back on the proposal to put a casino in the heart of chinatown. we're joined by a longtime commmmunity activist who was recently elected to the philadelphia city council, first asian-american woman ever to serve on the council. we welcome you to democracy now! you have a big event taking place here at the democratic convention. how does it profit philadelphia? and talk about these struggles you have been involved with.

you are our tour guide for the whole world right now for philadelphia. >> absolutely. i mean, i think it is amazing to have the eyes of the nation on our city. wewe have wanted thehem to be oe city foror a long titime. philadelphia is the largest video the country. we have got a lot of vibrant, active organizing from communities that are deep in our housing and our disability rights movement and our immigrant rights movement, and we're hoping that, while the mainstream media's attention might be on the stage, there will be a lot of democracy on our streets,s, as well. there is a lot of great organizing and happening in our city, the birthplace for democracy, so it is great to have it being created and our communities and our streets and not just in our politics. juan: tell us something about this long grassroots struggle to preserve the chinatown community here. that is how you first became rereally well-known in the cityf

philadelphia. >> thahat is right. thank you so much. it is wonderful to be in a citiy with such a vibrant asian-american movement here. it came out of the 197970's ethc power and black power struggles that was kinder of the birthplace of a lot of radical thinking within the asian-american group here it and it really was invested heavily in trying to think more broadly about asian america, rather than just the census category we have right now, but in a ably political movement. for many of us, the battleground was chinatown, because it was a home and immigrant placece for many asian americans in notadelphia, and there were that many places that we were struggling to f find language accessss, refugee resettlement, and this was a place where we could have this conversation. like most major urban cities in the 1970's and on, chinatown and other places were targeted for massive urban renewal projects that were really meant to kind of whitewash o out things and

redevelop an urban corridor that was not really meant for a lot of divers communities and families. we have lost a lot of communities in the process here in philadelphia. chinatown learned from that struggled at we pushed back in organized. through those types of struggles, we have been able to talk about chinatown more than just a place to get cheney's food and restaurants, plplaces like that, but as a vibrant community of people who deserve to have access to public education, who want to talk about immigrant rights issues, and talk about workers rights, as well. any popular activism really began around being a parent and a public education activist. can you talk about what is happening here in philadelphia, and also related to the democratic party platform and the republican party platform, if you will, talk about the major candidates' position on education? >> absolutely. beforey is philadelphia

the largest citytyn the country, we are in a state with the worst funding gets in the nation between the poorest school districts and the wealthy's school districts. poverty and inequality are at the heart of the education justice struggle here in philadelphia. years since t the state takeover of philadelphia public schools, that has basically run it into the ground. last year, thousands of schoolchildren went to summer school because they did not have a teacher in the classroom for the majority of the year. we have seen thousands of teachers stripped d from ourur classrooms and from programs. we have lost nurses and counselors. our kids struggle for water access in schools and buildings that are in grave disrepair because we do not put money into ththe school construction. in awe closed 30 schools very short window of time. so these kinds of things have formed the basis of a lot of parents , youth, community

members, and educators, getting involved and engaged with the rethinking out of what we think is core to our city survival. it is great to look at the inner-city and see these great buildings and construction going up and new homes him and philadelphia's growth has been reversed after five decades of population decliline, in part because of new birth rates and immigrants coming in, but this new families and immigrants in need public schools. if we do not give them to them, we will not see that happen. juan: the state took over the running of the public schools, supposedly to improve them, but has there been any improvement? and there has been huge growth in charters schools, as there has been all around the country. one, the stated took over the philadelphia public schools. at the time, they wanted to give philadelphia, as the largest school district, to a for-profit school company, which no longer exists. and in between, we have been

subjececd to all m manner of experimentation and reckless, in my mind, reckless privatization of our very central public institution. we have one of the larger charter school expansion systems in our c city. it has not stabilized things for our public schools. it has not necessarily lead to more financing or more money, more resources going into our classrooms. we have a big struggle right now between a massively expanding system, but that the private end , and on the individual single school model. we are looking at investment in the public school system overall. he encouraging thing is that the democratic party has starting to shift around this a little bit. i think that has a lot to do with the movement and organizing of people on the ground. there has been a huge pupush ben on high-stakes testing which led to the closing of public schools, teacher evaluatations leading to high turnover in our teaching force, so for the first time, the democratic party has

made a very clear statement that high-stakes testing's should not be used for teacher evaluations and school closures. and they started to push back on charter schools, that there is a support for charter schools, but not at the expense of the traditional public school. that is a very important distinction to make. amy: and the democratic platform, how it jives with thte cut of work you are doing here in philadelphia? >> it is evolving. we are clearly much further along. we n need to see a h huge invest in our public education system. i i would like to see an invigorated department of education that does investigations all across the nation about funding gaps and inequitieses that we're seeing d exexperiencing on the groround. this is not just a state problem. it is the federal government coming in and clearly showing how immigrant children in our country are not getting the access to basic levels of resources that their coununterparts shouldd get in a

public education system. furthermore, i think there needs to be a more aggressive investigation around how privatization is working, that we have got lots of problems, questions, and corruption investigations going on. we need to take that very seriously. it is federal money going in. we should take it seriously inn our education system. amy: thank you for being with us. longtime community activist recently elected to the philadelphia city council. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org -- we are breaking with convention: war, peace, and the presidency. i'm amy goodman. we're broadcasting from philly town. we are right across the street from where thomas jefferson wrote the declaration of independence. this is philadelphia's public access tv station. juan: on sunday, thousands of protesters marched through the streets of philadelphia to demand a ban on fracking and a transition to clean energy, despite a scorching heat wave, up to 2000 people took to the

streets for hours. this comes as climate change field extreme weather conditions across the world. in california, wildfire north of los angeles. in size. sunday, just one day after a burned body was discovered outside a home in santa clarita, north of l.a. mike burke was at the march on sunday and filed this report. ♪ >> my name is tracy. i am with delaware river keeper network and pennsylvanians against fracking. we are doing this for pennsylvanians against fracking. the coffin represents what fracking has taken from us. it has taken clean air and clean water. it has taken our friends who we can never get back. it has taken critters and the strain, our fish and wildlife. it has taken just as away from us. it has taken our democracy.

it has taken of our mental protection away. we are here today to say we are taking it back. we are taking pennsylvania back. that is why we are here today. >> what is your message to hillary clinton? fracking. a ban on bernie sanders called for a ban. we want you to call for a ban fracking, and national ban. fracking now,p immediately, in pennsylvania. can't ignoreyou us] >> i am debbie from upstate new york, new jersey. i am here for the march for clean air and clean water. where wef our lakes usually fish, cannot fish anymore because the river is full of it. the animals, there are pollutants in the ground. our people are dying constantly.

to ae probably been funeral every week for a month, and that is ongoing. winona,one owner -- executive director of food and water watch for it we to tell the democratic party that we want to put in a pot to fossil fuels and to ban fracking. we're so excited that we have more than 1000 groups from all 50 states, that this movement has grown so large that they are not going to be able to hide from it. we are demanding a ban on fracking and end to fossil fuel infrastructure and to keep it in the ground. it is time to really demand what we want and not half measures. that is what makes this movement to ban fracking so amazing. you know, a few years ago, many people said, it is naïve, no way you can ban fracking. since that time, we have banned

fracking in new york, had a moratorium in maryland. more than 500 communities around the country have taken local action against fracking. and there is a nationwide, worldwide, movement. >> can you target but hillary clinton, specifically her role as secretary of state, when they can to fracking internationally? >> hillary clinton was a big chair leader for fracking and her role at the state department. for instance, when bulgaria passed a ban on fracking, she sent state department personnel there to twist their arms and and haveop the ban them actually allow fracking in bulgaria. i am name is patty, and with re-think energy new jersey, and we're here today because of the outside of pipelines coming from new jersey. new jersey is going in the wrong direction. we need to take our fed off the gas and need to start making

real investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. >> can you describe the environmental impact the pipelines have had in new jersey? >> the pipelines threaten our drinking water and our drinking water and air safety of communities in new jersey. companies like new jersey resources, south jersey and others are, threatening new jersey's well-being with their projects. and new jersey needs to wake up, and we need to actually move forward with energy efficiency and with renewables. four out of five people in new jersey think renewables are the future of the state, and we want to be part of that vibrant energy economy revolution, too. it is good news, but we need to make sure we stop this destructive projects that want to come through new jersey. >> what is your message to hillary clinton and the democratic leadership? >> renewables now. for theually weren't

rainforest forest action network, national organizer with them. -- i actually work for the rain forest action network. i was part of a conference that organizes youth around climate support. >> what would your message be to hillary clinton? >> if i had a message for hillary clinton right now, it probably would not be about climate. it would be for the struggle and the movement for black lives, and what is she going to do to undo the unjust burdens that the black community has faced? her husbandntly, was a legislation and her lobbying for that. i think there needs to be some reparation and restitution for the black community across the country. i am 16 years old, a representative of the earth guardian crew, new voices for the latino global movement. and here to call for change have our voices heard in the streets. the government and the

politicians are not hearing us. bernie is an exception. we're out here today to have the world hear our voices and demand a ban on fracking, ban extractions that is damaging our environment, fight for solutions for the next generation so we can build a legacy for the next generation. >> can you talk about some of the work that the earth guardian stew? >> several members of the earth guardian crew are part of a national lawsuit holding our federal government accountable for failing to act upon climate change. we are demanding the knowledge are constitutional rights to life, property, liberty, justice . none of those things will matter if the planet is destroyed by the change in the climate. it is about our constitutional right and the public trust and our right for a healthy planet. >> what is your message for hillary clinton and the democratic leadership? >> it is time to back away and get our money off of fossil

fuels, stop letting fossil fuels fund the campaign. it is unfair for hillary clinton to talk about how climate change needs to be solved and then go support fracking. hillary clinton money and sport off of the fossil fuel industry, an industry that threatens lives like my own and the communities in pennsylvania and across the country that have been affected by the effect of fracking and extraction. we need 100% renewable energy. called theh a group nuclear inforormation and resoue service and washington, d.c., and am with the nuclear free carbon free contingent. we are here to send a message that he clean energy future has to be nuclear free and carbon free. there have been attempts to bailout the nuclear industry going on across the country, including in new york state, were governor cuomo is trying to build a reputation as a clean energy governor, and he is a $7.6 billion ballot to nuclear power plants.

disaster fora renewable energy i and our clean energy future. nothing about putting solar panels on anybody's roof or building windmills are getting energy efficiency. it will prop up the energy status quo. say to do you environmentalists that's a nuclear energy should be part of the makes when it comes to future energy needs? >> there are not any environmentalists that say we need nuclear power. ase want to paint themselves environmental groups, but if you look at the platform of every environmental organization across this country, every real environment and organization, nobody is endorsing nuclear power. america,ironment friends of the earth just signed a historic agreement to close a nuclear power plant in california. they want to replace it with clean renewable energy. have a pathhat we

to get to a clean energy future faster without nuclear power than with it. >> i am from new york state. >> if you had a chance just be to hillary clinton, what would your message be? >> i would make sure she stops the fracking she has going on right now and to try to find a way to ensure policy effectively, tangibly, has a great transition. it is not impossible. we should haveve started yesterday, years ago, that we neneeded need to start now. amy: specialal thanks tomike bk e and sam alcoff for that report. that is from the streets of philadelphia, from thousands of protesters out on sunday, the day before the convening of the democratic national convention. this is democracy now! stay with us. ♪ [music break]

sonong" here on democracy now!, democracynow.org . we are "breaking with convention: war, peace, and the presidency." we are philadelphia's public week for station this expanded coverage ofof the democratic natioional conventio. i am amy goodman with h juan gonzalez be at juan: elected officials, community leaders, and activist from across the united states gathered for an all day is simply sunday just before the opening of the democratic national convention to found the national puerto rican agenda, an organization that will seek to organize during for puerto rico the unprecedented financial and economic crisis. the new group of stateside puerto rican convenes in new jersey just across the river from philadelphia less than a

month after congress passed and president obama signed the lawroversial pro-mesa for puerto rico to restructure its $70 million debt, but it also great in the financial control board to oversee the island for the financial affairs. amy: its members approved a program and vowed to monitor how the new law is implemented. to putroved plans pressure on lawmwmakers and washinington, d.c., to equalize fundingg for medicaid and medicare and puerto rico, to exempt puerto rico from onerous u.s. shipping laws they drive up the cost of goods entering puerto rico, and to advocate for congress to finanally begin the puertoss of the colonizing rico -- of decololonizing puerto rico be a today, the 118th anniversary of the u.s. invasion of puerto rico during g the spspanish-amererican war,, and h ananniversary y of the crereatif the commmmonwealth o of puerto , the new group plans to pressss

consents to democratic party delegates with a rally near philadelphia's city hall. to talk more about the new group, we're joined by two of its leaders who were elected yesterday. the first was elected treasurer of the new national organization, and the other is a board memember in charge of socl media. we welcome you both to democracynow. let's begin with natasha. tell us what you're planning to do. >> the national puerto rican innda that we started october, we have had a communications plan through facebook and twitter and nation builder, and i am part of the communications team. i am chairman of the south florida chapter that was just incorporated yesterday. it is very necessary. there are more than 300,000 puerto ricans in the south florida area, the tricounty area , and a lot of p people givee attetention to the puerto cacans in orlando, tampa, the i-4

quarter, but a lot of people do not know how many have moved and immigrated to south florida in the past 10 years. so it is necessary to take -- pay attention to that puerto rican community of professionals that are moving to south florida. juan: in terms of this meeting, i had the opportunity to attend it, and it was a long, long day. in terms of what you're hoping to accomplish i actually formalizing a structure or officers and leaders of the puerto rican community in the united states. >> well, it is an advocate group that is looking to have connections and d washington, d. , with senators and council members and all the major areas where there are puerto rican connecticut,like pennsylvania, philadelphia, lancaster, new york, and florida, and chicago. and that is one of the things that w we're the most interested

in, finding new political leaders, adhering ourselves to political leaders that are right now letting them know that we're watchdog now for the pro-mesa and the fiscal board, and i think that is one of ththe thins it is most important for us. can you talk about whwhat is happening in puerto rico right now and how it relates to these conventions and what is happening in the u.s. congress? >> at this point in puerto rico, there are so many people over there, and this monetary crisis has really brought u us to form this organization. as people in the united states, we really have a sense of responsibility for the people in puerto rico. one of the major things, as between my son, my niece, my family here, is to help them understand that when you are from puerto rico, you cannot vote for -- when you are in puerto rico, you cannot vote for the president of the united

states, but once you fly to the mainland, you can vote. it is a big responsibility that we speak for our puerto ricans in congress. we are trying to do it in an organized fashion, getting our elected officials to really join for us. amy: this is an issue close to your heart, juan, talk about why that is, people in puerto rico not voting for president of the united states and what is happening right now with the group and control board? juan: one of the issues folks has to deal with is the reality and one of the planks of the organization, to finally get a decolonization process, because as long as puerto rico remains the territory of the united states for the residents of the island are citizens of the u.s. that do not have the chance to vote for president, do not elect members -- amy: kilis they moved to new york, pennsylvania, floridada. juan: so the problem when the bill was being debated in the house and senate, the very

it was about had no voting representation the house or senate. it had one nonresident commissioner who had a voice in the house of representatives but no vote. so the reality is thatat the elected d officialss here in the community leaders here become, the voice of the puerto rico community, because they have no actual voice in congress. one of the things that you apparently, that was decided that this simply yesterday, was to especially focus efforts, advocacy efforts, and three states, ohio, pennsylvania, and florida. why? is wherere we have a major shift in population. many puerto ricans are now moving to these very specific states because of the fact that they're looking for jobs. and're looking to come here get away from what is happening

in puerto rico. for herant them to vote drew want them to register to vote. and we want t them to activate that voice that has been silenced in puerto rico. amy: you are also talking about battleground states. >> absolutely. we're trying g to get them out voting. we want them to be registered right here to vote and understand the importance of our political voice. juan: and why here at the democratic convention? why have a rally here at the democratic convention today, this afternoon? it is very important. i think it is to represent, to let them know that this national gathering of more than 150 people, and we're expecting more for the rally, but yesterday were 150 delegates from throughout the united states. it is necessary for both hillary

clinton's campaign, the dnc, even the bernie sanders campaign to understand the importance of the puerto ricans' voice and vote in the united states. >> and we also want to show that we are a united front. this is very important to the puerto rican community in the united states. we want to absolutely demonstrate that to all the representatives that will be around town. significance of these anniversaries. for people who are not familiar with u.s. colonial history. juan: july 25 has a special meaning and puerto rico, because it was on july 25, 1898, the general nelson miles and several thousand u.s. navy troops landed in puerto rico during the spanish-american war to supposedly liberate the people of puerto rico, but then the navy and military never left,

and puerto rico remained a colonial territory of the united states. , when the commonwealth of puerto rico was created, it was created specifically on july 25 to commemorate the original american invasion. so it is really the founding day of the commonwealth of puerto rico, july 25, 1952. and what we have seen in the last few weeks through the ,ecisions in the supreme court through the obama administration's arguments in those cases, and through the action of congress in promesa is that all branches of the u.s. government, supreme court, white house, and congress have all said, guess what, puerto rico did not really get economy in 1952 when the commonwealth was declared. we lied to the island nations that the puerto rico had self-government, because we are now imposing financial control and put forth the argument

before the supreme court that there is no sovereignty on the part of the puerto rican people. amy: of course, we will continue to follow this issue. we want to thank you both for joining us. officials with the newly formed national puerto rican agenda. this is democracy now! :e are breakaking withth convenn war, peace, the presidency. senator sanders is preparing to address the democratic national convention tonight. on the streets yesterday, hundreds of sanders supporters rallied near city hall plaza. >> i am representing seattle, washington them as a pledge delegate for bernie sanders. we're still clenched and committed to do campaign has not conceded yet. we are fighting for every and should we can get of the dnc. hoping toare you accomplish? >> we want to have the party represent the needs of the people.

>> what are the most of our issues to you? >> single-payer health care and real action on climate change. and no tpp. amy: what do you think of the choice of tim kaine is hillary's running mate? >> it is underwhelming. it signals they are more interested in attracting moderates. amy: what are your plans for the opening g of the conventioion? >> we're going to show up and see what the tone is. at a buse looking right now this as black men for learning on top, they stood up a coffin that says dnc on it. can you explain it to me? >> to me, it is a warning that if the party does not represent the will and needs of the people come the party will fracture appeared we have a record high 42% of people that identify as independent. that tells me something. lost soto so many -- we many seats and races, and that tells me that the voter turnout

is not high enough spirit when voter turnout is high, progressives win. >> john mack. i do support bernie, but i also support hillary. i support the policies. as a poor that we do need a revolution and this country, a political revolution, but a peaceful revolution. we could end of going back to the days of the early 1900's and jim crow, so things have to change, and it has to start today. isaiah from seattle, washington. i am a member of bernie's peacekeeper organization. a littleyou tell me more about who the bernie peacekeepers are? >> a group of volunteers from all over the place, all different ages and ethnic groups, volunteers to keep a piece and send a message for bernie coming out in a peaceful revolution. >> i and from los angeles, california. i am a filmmaker. i am one of these guys. amy: these guys are?

>> we're showing solidarity with senator bernie sanders. amy: is that your bus? >> no, actually, it is not my bus, but a pulled up and i thought, oh, well. i am a black man, and i have for bernie. >> i am 18 years of from minneapolis. my sign says -- i cannot believe we still have to protest this [beep]. amy: why? >> because we have been doing this since the 1920's. 1960's, civil rights. and we're still at it again. we just do not change. yet, we cannot hear a protest, and they give us a little, and then they take it right back and we have to do this again. amy: how do you know this as an 18-year-old? will it be your first i voted? >> it will be my first time voting, yes. because of mostly the dnc wikileaks. they showed us that hillary was given an unfair advantage from the get-go, and bernie was given

a disadvantage. and like many of us here, if they are going to show as it was not a fair election, we absolutely should be given our money back for our cause. amy: why don't you read me what your quilt says. >> when will the madness end? that is above all how i am feeling right now. i do not think there is a bottom to this. next week, what are we going to learn? every week, we learn something else. i do not think there is a bottom to this hillary clinton pit. republicans will not leave this alone ever. amy: what most disturbed you about those e-mails within the dnc? >> that we knew this all along for the last year and we were trying to say it, and we all feel a little crazy in the backs of our heads thinking, yeah, we know it is all corrupt to begin with. you now to have as spelled out in 20,000 e-mails, i do not think it gets any clearer or any more disturbing. amy: bernie sanders supporters

rallying at philadelphia's city hall plaza. that does it for today's show. democracy now! is produced by an amazing team. mike burke, nermeen shaikh, carla wills, laura gottesdiener, deena guzder, sam alcoff, robby karran, hany massoud, charina nadura, juan carlos davila, and ú

narrator: 2008, discontent turns ininto confrontationon. around the world people e take o the streets. ♪ music momar: they use tear gas, electric batons, plastic bullets. it was a very, very hard day. narrator: protests like these in dakar and senegal spread to many other cities. there were similar riots in egypt and in india. in haiti the president was overthrown. the reason? high food prices. one of the major causes: climate change. villagers are leaving their homes simply to survive.