12/18/17 12/18/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> we absbsolutely reject thehe declaration the supreme electoral tribunal. we do not recognize any action that is committed by this criminal organization for electoraral fraud organized by e government of juan orlando hernandez. amy: in honduras, the political crisis is escalating, as the election commission declares the u.s.-backed incumbent president juan orlando hernandez the winner of the contested november 26 presidential election.

but the organization of american states is calling for a new election, and the opposition party is calling for nationwide protests today. we'll go to tegucigalpa to speak withth the spokesperson of the alliance against thehe dictatorship. then to president trump's tax plan. pres. trump: this is going to be one of the great gifts to ththe middle income people of this country that they've ever gotten for christmas. amy: a christmas gift for the middle class or for president trump's family and the lawmakers whose votes he was courting? we'll look at how tennessee senator bob corker's abruptly changed his mind and announced his support for trump's tax plan after the addition of a last-minute provision that would personally enrich him. then after the fcc votes to repeal the landmark net neutrality rules, what is next in the fight for a free and open internet? all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the republican-controlled congressss is poised to pass s a massive rewrite of the u.s. tax code after tennessee republican senator bob corkerer abruptly reversed his position and announced his support for the tax plan. his switch came as republican leaders added a last-minute provision that slashes taxes on income from real estatellc's. corker is a real estate mogul. to votebio also pledged yes after winning an expansion of the child tax credit, which republicans reluctantly granted. "the new york times" reports those who will most benefit arm of the millionaires, private equity managers, private schools, liquid -- liquor stores, and president trump and his family. we will have morore on the republican tax bill later in the broadcasast. the tatax bills intending passae came as a top u.n. monitoror issued a scathing report on

poverty in the united states saying the trump administration and republicans were turning the u.s. into the world champion of extreme inequality. philip alston, the u.n. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, warned the republican tax bill will transfer vast amounts of wealth to the richest earners while making life harder for the 41 million americans living in poverty. >> i think the american dream is moving fairly rapidly toward the american illusion because social momobility in n this country isw extremelely low by anany western standards. if you are born in poverty, guess for your going to end up? in poverty. amy: in honduras, the supreme electoral tribunal has declared president juan orlando hernandez as the official winner of the november 26 presidential election, despite widedespread alallegations ofof vote-riggingy opposition parties and international observers. the gogovernment controlled tribunal concluded hernanaez bebeat opposition candidate salvador nasralla by jusust over 1.5 percentage points after early counts put nasralla in the

lead by five points. the organization of american states has called for a new election, saying the first election was so filled with irregularities, that it is impossible to declare a winner. sunday's announcement sparked calls for renewed protests following weeks of uncertainty about the election result. on friday, police fired tear gas at protesters who barricaded roads in tegucigalpa, demanding a recount. this is margarita sauceda. >> we want them to recognize salvador nasralla now is president. he is our president. we elected him as our president because he is the best we have. he will be a change for this country.y. amy: after headlines, we'llll go to honduras to speak w with and talkt allan nairn with history professor and human rights specialist dana frank. of attacackerspair stormed d a christmas service aa church in the city of quetta on

sunday, killing nine people and woundiding more ththan 50 other. witnesses say one of the attackers detonated a suicide bomb while the other sprayed gunfire on worshipers before he was shot dead by police. isis later claimed responsibility f for the attaca. in afghanistan, at least 11 police officers were killed sunday after taliban fighters stormed a checkpoint in the city of lashkar gah. elsewhere, a suicide bomber targeted a nato convoy in kandahar, killing a woman who died when her home collapsed due to the blast. in the gaza strip, thousands of palestinians attended a funeral saturday for a 29-year-old double-amputee who was killed. witnesses say an israeli sniper shot 29-year-old ibrahim abu thuraya in the head. at the time of his death, abu thuraya was using a wheelchair. he lost both legs and a kidney in 2008 in an assault by a u.s.-made israeli helicopter gunshihip. he was one of four palestinians killed b by israeli security

forces during protests on friday. the united nations' top human rights official is investigating whether burma's military and the country's de facto leader, aung san suu kyi, committed genocide against burma's rohingya muslim minority. speaking with the bbc, zeid ra'ad al hussein said an international criminal campaign. >> giviven the scacale of the military operation,, clearly, these would have to be decisions taken at a h high enough level, and then there is thehe crime of omission that if you camame to your k knowledge that this wasan cocommitted anand you do nothino stop it, then you u could be culpable as well for that. amy: insula, -- in chile, billionaire former president sebastian piñera easily won a new presidential term sunday in a run-off vote that pitted him against senator alejandro guillier. during his previous term, piñera

sparked massive protests by unions and student groups over his moves to privatize public services, including education. back in the united states, nevada democratic c lawmakerer n kihuen said saturday he will not seek reelection next year, as a fourth woman stepped forward to accuse the freshman congress member of unwanted sexual touching and sexual harassment. kihuen, who denies the charges, made his announcement a day after the house ethics committee said it had launched an investigation. carolina panthers owner jerry richardson said d he's put his team up for sale after the nfl said it has launched an investigation into allegations of racist comments and sexual harassment. among the accusations reported by "sports illustrated," richardson ordered female employees to wear jeans to work and to line up for his inspection, telling them to "show me how you wiggle to get those jeans up." special counsel robert mueller has obtained tens of thousands

of emails from members of donald trump's presidential transition teteam, adding t to speculation about whether more indictments could follow in the wake of the arrest of general michael flynn, paul manafort, and two other former trump officials. axios reports the emails include documents from seven different accounts, including one operated by trump's senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner. at the white house, president trump blasted mueller's move on sunday, saying the situation was not looking good. but trump said he has no plans to fire mueller. pres. trump: my people were very upset about it. i can't imagine there's anything on him, frankly. as we said, there is no collusion. there is no collusion whatsoever. but a lot of lawyers. that was pretty -- thought that was pretty sad. amy: one of trump's lawyers said in a letter to congressional leaders that mueller had improperly received the emails, prompting a rare statement from mueller, who defended his actions as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. the spat came as congress member adam schiff, the ranking democrat o on the house intelligence committee, accused

republicans of maneuvering to end the committee's investigation into trump-russia ties. the trump administration is barred top federal health officials from using seven words or phrases relating to abortion, sexuality,y, and s science in official d documents. "the washington post" broke the news on friday, citing an anonymous whistleblower who says policy analysts s at the centers for disease control were told of the banned words at a meeting last week. the words are -- "fetus," "entitlement," "vulnerable" "diversity," "transgender," "evidence-based" and "science-based." in a statement, kaylie hanson long of naral pro-choice america said -- "forbidding scientists and researchers from using medically accurate terminology in order to push an extreme, ideological agenda is more 'dystopia' than 'united states of america.'" inin california, fire officials say the thomas fire, the biggest of several blazes currently raging in the southern part of the state, is on track to become the largest wildfire in

california's modern history. cal fire officials say the fire is less than half contained with 18,000 structures still under threat. the thomas fire has consumed an area larger than new york city, and at least two deaths are blamed on the fire. climate scientists have linked california's unprecedented wildfires in warmer, drier december 2 condititions brouougn by global warming. in georgiaia, a fire at an underground electrical facility knocked out power at atlanta international airport for 11 hours on sunday, stranding tens of thousands of passengers, plunging terminals into darkness and canceling more than 1500 flights at the world's busiest airport. the blackout left some passengers trapped aboard grouounded planes s for more thn six hours.s. and on capitol hill, police arrested seven daca recipients and one of their allies friday, as they held a nonviolent sit-in protest inside the offices of democratic senator chuck schumer of new york and republican

congress member carlos curbelo of florida. the activists were demanding the lawmakers commit to voting "no" on a spending bill later this month unless it includes a version of the dream act without concessions on funding for the border wall or enhanced border security. this is activist erika andiola, speaking at the start of friday's protest in senator schumer's office. 22 as part of the spending bill, schumer can do this. yes the power. we're tired of him playing political games with o our live. that is why we are here and we are going to stay in jail until he does it. amy: the activists remain in jail, and could face possible deportation. theyey say they'll remaiain on hunger strike e until their demands are met. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin tododay's show with the escalating political crisis in honduras. on sunday night, the electoral commission declared incumbent president juan orlando hernandez

as the official winner of the contested november 26 presidential election. the commmmission m made the announuncement while oppositionn candndidate salvador nasralla ws on a plane traveling to the united states to present evidencece of election fraudud. ththe opposition party is now:or nationwi protetests in the organizazation of amererican sts has called for a new election. this is s jorge tutoto quiroga,d of the electoral observer mission ofof the oas. electoral observer mission considered it has observed the process of low elelectoral qualy anand therefore cannot settle te doubts over what has been announced today. the incidence of violence that have occurred in the elections is regrettable. it once again for all actors to stay calm and responsibility. amy: the government cocontrollld electoraral commission stopped tallying votes once the count

showed opposition candidate nasralla ahead. afteter few d days, they liked r commission c claim hernandez was ahead. human rights groups say as many as 22 people have been killed and more than 1200 detained a nationwide protest since. for more, we're joined in to visit -- divisible but by award-winning investigative journalist allan nairn and rudo campos. in w washington, d.c., dana frak is with us, professor of history at the university y of californ, santa cruz. that's begin with rudolfo pastore in tegucigalpa. your spokesperson for the opposition party that is led by salvador nasralla, who is in an airplane headed to washington when the government controlled electoral commission announced that the incumbent president hernandez has one. what is your response and what isis happening in the ststreets right now? well, what has happened since

last night, it is early morning hehere in honduras,, is obvious, ththe announcement i the tririb, a unilateralal announcncement. only the president of the tribunal was o on camera, whichs three atypical sincecet is magistrates for the tribunal and yet t it was the president of te tribunal is more directly linked tojuan orlando hernandez, make an announcement, which was also atypical since it was not an official announcememe. it wasas basically him communicating the final results of the count and yet it t was nt thee tribunal coming out and saying juan orlando hernananz hahad been elected president of honduras. whatat happened sinin then is, f course, , the alliance hasas rerected this s declaration. we doo not consider the tribunal byby now to bebe a legitimate

stitution n here in hondnduras. it h has been that way for a while. we have questioned the credibility of the tribunal, the capacity of the tribunal to provide credible results since before the elections. and of course, by now, more than three weeks since the elections, we are very concerned that the tribunal has played a very, very important role in manipulating the results. and this is something the oas hahas come out a a spoken aboutn its report. the alliance has rejected the results and has called for the population to stay on the streets to keep mobilizing since this is our way of putting presessure on the regigime so tt they can actually rectitify. since the announcecement by the tribunal and then the statements made by the oas s lling for a

new election,n, what we'rere for here in honduras is, basasicall, juan orlando hernandndez moving forward saying "i am now the winner." all of the froront pages on the major newspapapers call him the new president of honduras for the next four yearars. they barely mention the fact the oas came out with a very, very strong statement questioning the tribunal and questioning the process, and calling for new elections. amy: allan nairn, you have been covering the events in tegucigalpa. can you talk about nasralla , where he was when this announcement was made? you saw him getting on the plane in tegucigalpa? >> yeah, i spoke to him as he was boarding. he clearly did not expect this. he was on the way to the -- one thing that shocked many people here was that president hernandez made this announcement, meanwhile,

nasralla was on the plane. but one day after hernandez's sister was killed in helicopter crash that he seized the moment to string his proclamation a victory. the declaration by the secretary-general of the oas was remarkable because the oas is historically a policy tool of the united states. he is clearly bucking the wll of the united states, which has been backing hernandez througughout this prprocess. hernandez is close to general kelly in the white house. i think this took some courage on the secretary's part because -- these weekss i've been talking to former latin american heads of state who have made it clear the oas has been hesitant about going

against the u.s. on this. but now the secretary-general has issued a very strong statement, making it clear that the computers -- computer system of the e electoral commission ws penetrated. it was an invitation to fraud. the oas -- address was seems to be the dominant emerging evidence was much of the fraud was done by simple ballot box stuff. it was on the local level by the ruling party. as i previously mentioned on an 30,ier show, on november one of the technicians inside the electoral system sent out a private message in which he stated "the fraud has now been done." this earliest stance by the

secretary-general could put some pressure on the honduran government. more importantly, it may make it difficult for the white house. which will have a hahard time explaining in any rarational way why would now back hernandez as for newis calling elections. amy: can you talk about the role who in manyton, countries around the world, the president trump has not sheinted ambassadors and so plays that role? the significance of nasralla being on an airplane to the u.s.? what she was planning to do at the state department and the ois? and her role in honduras right now as she is deeply involved with speaking with both sides? >> well, just a few days

earlier, she appeared alongside the head of the electoral tribunal, a de facto endorsement. -- not callingow for a recount. she was widely denounced for that. it is clear behind the scenes she has been working on behalf of hernando's and the u.s. has not denounced killings by the security forces. last night, i went out in the streets as people were taking to the streets, burning tires. and the dominant force iranian to -- i ran into were the military police, which was the most repressive element of the armed forces. the ones most personally linked to president hernando's. they were carrying live ammunition. they tolold me that had orders o

open fire on demonstrators if they gave them any trouble. and although the pentagon has yearslanning in recent that the u.s. has n not been training the military police, a number of those iran into said they had gotten their training from fort benning. it is s partially necessary for themem to u u this extrtremely repressive fororce now b becauso weeks ago, the police rebelled and said they would no longerr carry out repepression and other elemenents of the armymy i haven talking to have beeeen saying te rent control -- rank-and-file troops said they were reluctant also. i've never seen any of the country by security force that was less ideologically strong and less committed -- when you ask them who their families voted for back in the countryside where they come from, very few say hernandez. most of them say their families , at leastnasralla among those i have talked to. many of them seem to have dinner five more as poor working people

where they come from as of posting members of the institution. and i think the hernandez government -- and you have to see this, the popular resistance is largely persistent enough, this government may have some difficulty holding on, even with u.s. backing. frank, professor university california santa cruz, you have been closely following e everything here. you say this election is being stolen. >> i think we have to say there certainly is evidence of fraud and a great concern about who controlled those tally sheets, who controlled the computers. i certainly would support what the oas is saying, which iss we don't have evidence of a clear election here that could be certified. and there's a long history of electoral fraud in honduras going to this. let's remove a that. juan orlando hernandez has a history. his election itself is illegal. it is a criminal act in

violation of the constitution, which says it is an immediate criminal act. let't's remember that. i think we have to listen to what the opppposition is saying, what the oas is income and say they need a new election. there's way too much water under the bridge in terms of that electoral commission. if the foxes are guarding the chicken coop and the chicken -- i think we have to listen to what the opposition was saying. remember, the honduran people have very few ways of expressing themselves at this point. people say, why are they going into the streets? it is not like they can petition congress. hernandez has control. the police? we don't really know what the position of the military and the police are going to be. just pay attention to what the united states is going to do here. they have such a long history of giving the green ligight to juan

orlando. outrageously certifying two days after the election as it was already clear that there were major problems with the election, certifying the human rights conditions on aid to hundreds has been met. that was astonishing. december 10, international human rights day, heidi faulting, the acting abbasid or, use that to praise one orlando hernandez' us government prevents been on human rights. there sitting signals about who they care about and support in who they don't care about and support and the slack of respect for human rights in honduras. so all eyes are on the united states right now. will it was the oas? there were some suggestions that the oas was going to certify this election. when it hasn't, i think what is the united states going to do? the eu came out last night supporting t the electoral commission. very embarrassingly pretty much

repeating exactly what the honduran government said. the eu has a long history like the united dates of supporting one orlando's government. the other place to look is the u.s. congress. there have been strong voices about the appearance of major fraud. there have been very strong voices condemning the repression. especially commerce woman should cows be in congress member keith ellison. there are than 68 members of congress that have said cut police and military aid going into the elections. senator leahy incident or read, senator merkley and many others in the senate have expressed concern about potential fraud and concern about the state security forces. we also want to pay attention this congressional voice pushing back against the state department. remember that congress controls the purse strings and u.s. money is funding the state sececurity forces. the u.s. -- the state department, the u.s. state department that has been continuing lee c celebrating

wonderland is dictatorship as if he was, as john kelly put it, a great guy and a good friend. kelly said that asas recently as may and that is trump's chief of staff. rodolfo pastore, you are the opposition spokesperson, the alliance against the dictatorship. can you explain what nasralla is doing in washington and what you're calling for to happen now in the streets? explain how broad your coalition is. >> the coalition is very broad. whatat evidentlyly happen here differentnt political parties and d social movements,e realizeded we were dealing witha didictatorship. this was no longer a normal political processss where we wee just competing for political power through e elections. this man who has come e to power during the last eight years a aa

result of the 2009 coup when he became president of conongresss first andd s started packingng e courts a and different statate instititutions, has concentrated so m much powewer under his executive office that we are no longer dealing with a normal presidentt here in honduras. so we started coming together throughout the last four years when he, as president, has been increasingly abusive, authoritarian, and repressive. and we realized the only way to confront this guy on an election that he pretty much controls was a coming together and building this broad coalition -- which brings very odd partners to the party. of course, i am a member of libre, a party that was born from the resistance to the coup back in 2009. and there's a left off center

party. the coalition also brings a small social democrat party that has been in congress for a long time, but has not played a major role in hundred politics. and a small social democrat pac led by esther nasralla, which is a party born from the coup but a right off center party based on an anticorruption narrative. it is a party, by the way, months before the coalition officially came together as the alliance was dismantled by the under onened by -- orlando's direct instruction. we started getting social movements from honduras coming to us anand also s saying, hey,e want to be part of this and we need to organize against this because we know we're going into know it for a process that --

look for process that did not meet any basic conditions for to be free or fair. and we went into this game ,nowing they control the field that we were clearly -- we were going against the on tear, but we also knew the rejection of the hundred population as a isle and against one orlando huge. it is huge. there was absolutely no way of these elections were in any way clean or transparent that one orlando was going to be the winner. that is currenently the positio. it m might seem contradictory, t we'rere not exactlyly celebratig the fact thahat the oas h has ce out and askeked for a new proces toto be organized because we wat -- won these past elections even agagainst the massive fraud and that control of one orlanando tt

cocontrol the elections.s. ththe honduran people came out massively and voted agaiainst jn orlando and for the alliance. this is somethining we want to make very cleaear. we need to respepect this. we need to respect the fact that the popular will l was clearlyy expressed. and thatat since the election, d since itit became so evidentnt t there e had been fraudud going n before, during, and after the elelection, there hahas been significant repression by state police and army f fces. and as a resesult, we are vicics of t this repressionon. we have 22 people who have been killed. many others have been ininjured. and the journalist pointed out, thihis is a criticl moment f for us s and we are not willing to just accept that juan orlando should by some miracle

agree that we a are to hold neww elelections -- in which, of course, he would lose if thehey were organized by an objective, impartial tribunal. so we are very concerned, number one, with the reaction that juan orlandndo might have agaiainst t happened lastt night.. ofof course, h he seems to be plowing forward a and, you know, babasically ignoring what the os has said. nunumber two, yes, what will the u.s. say about this? mr. nasrallala is visiting washington in order to meet with secretary-general and he is also to meet with officials -- amy: secretatary-general o of te oas. >> that's right. before theened annonouncement was made. we did expxpect the announcement to be madade. we expected it to be m made tod,

mondayay, and not sundnday nigh. and yet i it did not come as a surpririse to us. we have been getting readydy for this announcement to be made by the tribunal. we do consnsider thathe oas report does give -- it gives us a certain boost and i speak on behalf of the hundred population that has been out in the streets for three weeks now. understand there is a voice of hope out there in the international community is still paying attention to us. we are obviously very upset with the positiononhat the eueuropean union r representative herere ce out and stated last night, like professor frank stated. yet we must make it c clear this is not t the officl poposition f thee electoral observationon mission n they have here. and i understand that right now thehespspeak, we have

president of t the comommission speaking from brussels about this. and i i think they wilill comemt strongly stating that the electoral process was plagued by fraud. amy: we're going to continue to cover this tomorrow on [captioning made possible by democracy now!] unfold.y now! as events shutting commission down the vote for a period when it was announced. was fivenasralla percentage points ahead. he is in washington now.w. rudolfo paststor, spokesperson r the alliance against the dictatorship. allan nairn, independent journalist, on the streets from tegucigalpa. and professor dana frank. did republican lawmakers include a last-minute provision in the tax plan to personally enrich tennessee senator corker in order to secure his support for

the tax bill? stay witith us.

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to the republicans plan to overhaul the u.s. tax code to shower billions of dollars in tax cuts upon major corporations that appears to be a step closer to passing. histor corker reversed decision. the surprise move by the republican senator came after a controversial last-minute addition to the bibill that woud personally enrich him. it would slash taxes and income from real estate llc's. corker is a real estate mogul. on sunday, while speaking with abc's george stephanopoulos, senate majority whip john cornyn pushed back against accucusations that l lawmakers

slipped a "corker kickback" into the bill. in agging out one piece thousand page bill and saying, well, this is going to benefit somebody, i just think it takes the whole bill out of context. >> except this provision wasn't included in the house or senate bill and apparently was added at the last minute. why was it necessary to include the provision? >> we were working very hard. it is a very intense process. the democrats did refuse to participate. to cobble together the votes we needed to get this bill passed. amy: that was senate majority whip john cornyn. arizona republican senator john mccain will miss the vote , the president trump says he can return from arizona. yes, he is gone to arizona, senator mccain, to recover from chemotherapy treatments for his brain tumor. "the new york times" reports those who will most benefit from the republicans' tax bill are big corporations, multimillionaires, private equity managers, private schools, liquor stores, lawyers, tax accountants, andnd president

trump and his family. the tax bill will slash the corporate tax rate from 35% down to 21%. it will raise exception on the estate tax to $22 million, meaning people with tens of millions of dollars will receive a major tax cut. it would also keep intact the so-called carried interest loophole, which massively benefits private equity managers. and it will slash the tax rate for so-called "pass-through income," benefiting corker. as "the times'" reports -- "numerous industries will benefit from the republican tax overhaul, but perhaps none as dramatically as the industry where mr. trump earned his riches: commercial real estate." in contrast, "the new york times" reports those will be most hurt by the tax plan are the elderly, low-income families, immigrants, people buying health insurance, the island of puerto rico, and homeowners in the states of new york, new jersey, and california. the tax bill will repeal the individual mandate, which

experts say will cause insurance premiums t tskyrocket.t. the congressional budget office estimates 13 million americans are projected to lose their health insurance under the plan. it will also impose a new requirement that families must provide a social security number to claim the child tax credit, meaning many undocumented parents will no longer be able to receive this credit, even if their children are u.s. citizens. because the parents don't have a social security number. it used to be that you had to put in the children's social security number. florida senator marco rubio announced his support for the plan friday after next bench and of the child tax credit, even of the expansion want benefit the children of undocumentedd aaron's. republican lawmakers are pressing for for a final vote on trump's tax plan this week. for more, we're joined here in new york city by kali akuno, co-founder and co-director of cooperation jackson, network of worker cooperatives in jackson, mississippi. he's the author of "jackson rising: the struggle for

economic democracycy and black self-determination in jackson, mississippi." and in denver, we're joined by david sirota, senior editor for investigations at the international business times. he is the one who broke the story donald trump and gop leaders could be enriched by lalast-minute tax break inserted into final bill. david, why don't we begin with you? explain what you discovereded. >> sure. this is all about pass-through income come income generated limited liability companies, llc's, and other kinds of partnerships. and basically, what happened was the house in its bill had a sweeping tax reduction for income earned from those kinds of entities. in the senate bill -- a key point -- the senate bill that bob corker voted on and voted against included various restrictions in the bill designed to prevent a tax cut for income earned through these pass-through entities from those

pass-through entities that aren't employing people. it included provisions basically trying to limit the tax cut, only to llc, essentntially pay wages. the idea beieing that tax cut ws supposed to be structured companies that are actually ememploying people. corker votes against that bill with those restrictions and then the house and senate comes together and negotiate a final copper must bill, a final bill in the report. magically, a revision shows up in the report that the framework goes with the senate provisions, seeming to have limits on the tax cuts for it. but it included a relatively narrow loophole that said the tax cuts could still be effectively be accessed by llc's that had few to no employees in it. and tax experts tell us that is a particularly big benefit to

real estate llc's, the kind president trump has, the kind that a series of top lawmakers, including bob corker, has. these are llc's with real estate holdings in the llc oppressed with generating rental income. when that bill came out on friday afternoon, the conference report with a special provision in it, all of a sudden bob corker said he is now switching his vote from "no" to "yes" on the final bill and this is -- in a very serious way, it could enrich him. economist have told us you could make between $500,000 and $1 million in tax cuts from this own filings. his did corker change his vote because this provision was in the bill young co that is unclear, but that is what a lot of critics are asking. a lot of folks are wondering,

why did he change his vote? he originally voted against it saying he was voting against it because he would explode the deficit. any changes his vote to "yes" when the revision is in the final bill and the final bill explodes the deficit according to the joint committeeee on taxation? bob corker has not offered up a very clear answer as to why he has switched his vote. sirota, this is particularly important because bob corker, the republican tennessee senator who took this defiant stand and said he would not support the tax bill for switching his vote, it's retiring, going back to private business in tennessee. -- he is asolutely pivotal player in this. it is hard to overstate how important he is. you mentioned john mccain is probably not going to be there for the vote, which means two senate republican votes could basically kill this $1.5

trillion tax cut. if corker was against the bill come as he was against the and one other senator, whether it is jeff flake who said he is undecided or susan collins, this bill will go down. in other words, bob corker potentially has the entire senate bill in his hands. and that clip you heard of , asked cornyn saying directly why this provision was put in and the basically says "i'm trying to -- we were trying to call together the votes," this has raised a lot of quesestions about what is motivating bob corker. late last night, corker wrote a letter facing ththis firestorm f criticism about what he has done. you wrote a letter to senator orrin hatch, the chairman of the senate finance committee, basically suggesting he did not know about this provision, demanding answers about how the provision got into the bill. what is really important about this is it is a very unusual event where you have a republican senator who potentially has the fate of president trump's entire tax ill and his hands now publicly

putting pressure on his own party, demanding answers about this provision. a situation of potentially suggest corker's that may still be in flux. amy: very significant from also having to admit he hadn't read this. he did not k know it was i in t, if in fact, that is true, and demand and next nation of how this provision got in that would so handsomely profit corker himself. >> i mean, it is interesting how you view this. bob corker told this in a series of phone calls that he had not even bothered to read the bill, that he it already previously announced he wouldn't support. at one point, he criticizes provision then tried to walk back the criticism. people say, bob corker is telling the truth. he did not read the bill -- which fofolks will say that t is incredibible he's going to vote for a bill he hasn't read.

but he didn't read the bill and we believe him and he wants answers about the provision. there's another way to say, how would a guy who is a real estate mogul, who has complex investstments, not know about a giant potential tax cut inserted into the bill directed at precisely the kind of business that he is in and d his explanation doesn't make much sense and that this may all just be a smokescreen? it is really hard to tell what is going on. of fromi akuno, your jackson, jackson, mississippi. you are deeply involved with issues of economic democracy. talk about this tax bill. what does itit mean? >> is one of the greatest transfers of wealth from the working class to the rich. history, butican history. when you look at the details that are coming out and all of these little backdoor deals, these plausible and denials by folks like corker, they only go so far.

but the details are there. this is going to help a narrow sliver of folks within the united states. and folks like myself and a lot of folks in mississippi, we're going to be drastically hurt by this bill. you mentioned one of the fallouts, which is already happening around millions of people losing their health care. i'm likely going to be one of those people as a result of this tax bill. when i filed for my application, it said my rates were going up from $900 a month -- which is $2000y outrageous -- two a month. excuse me for that, but just the emotion of what i'm going to have to deal with. given my income, that largely makes it almost impossible for me. iron a little bit more than the average person in mississippi. see goodness imagine if there's only one health care provider, now it is going to be -- if that is the rate they are charging, as a result of the pullbacks from trump with the subsidies

that he already announced, you look at what this tax bill is going to do, we arare one of the suffering this next period immensely. amy: what about roy moore losing , doug jones winning, even with obamacare with the affordable care act and passed only by democrats? we willt obama said wait for scott brorown, who had been elected in massasachusetts, republican senator, to be seated befofore we g go for this majore because the people of massachusetts have spoken. but mitch mcconnell has clearly said that this vote will take place before christmas, so that -- well, what that would lead to is doug jones who was elected in the special election, will not be able to participate in this. >> well, i think doug was trying to aim to allison fears yesterday on his cnn interview. he basically said is going to look to try to find some common

interest with the republicans. he was clearly aiming at a reelection bid coming up in 2020. so it is also another case -- we are not quite sure, even if he is seated, where he would vote. he is clearly what we would call a dixie-crat.t. and he self described himself as a blue dog democrat. we would hope he would be one of the people who stands in opposition to this tax bill. we would hope that corker would come to his senses and oppose it. but that is a lot of hope. i think we are thin. i think the real question is, how we're going to organize in the long term that will not only defeat this tax bill, but they are coming for medicaid and medicare and social security. paul ryan has already said they're going to look at that next year. we have a seserious fight on our hands. amy: they will so disadvantage states and cities that they will then be forced to cut services. >> there are ready looking at that.

in our case in mississippi, we have a tea party, supers -- there are ready looking to add more cuts to the federal government is also doing with this tax cut. so for places like jackson, there could be severe austerity the next couple of years, so that is something we'll was not the case, but gearing up expecting to prepare for the worse. amy: i would like to ask you to stay after the show so we can do part two, particularly looking at jackson, mississippppi, and what you have done there and how the trump administration impacts that. before we go, a very quick comment on your deep concerns about white supremacy in the united states right now under president trump. it is not just here. i was recently in europe and i fascistd reports on the threat in italy, and now there's a far rightht members sitittingn ththe austrian government.

i've do concerns about this playing throughout the world, particularly here, looking at donald trump. ande is white supremacy neoliberalism, which is emerging, i would argue e nothig mamany would, wiwith a s serious fascism that could threaten life on this planet as we know it. it is not just a minor concern. i think it is a deep concern that all of its should have. and go i want to thank you for being with us, kali akuno with cooperation jackson, and has written a book "jackson rising: the struggle for economic democracy and black self-determination in jackson, mississippi." and also wanting david sirota, who broke the story and the international business times about senator corker and his surprise switch vote on the taxes. who knows? he might switchh back, being opposed to the tax bill, with the provision that was put in that would personally enrich him. we will l continue to follow tht

story. when we come bacack, what is net in the fight to protect net neutrality? stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is d democracy now!,!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. end today show looking at the next ups in the fight to get the internet free and open. the federal communications commission, known as the fcc, voted last week to dismantle landmark net neutrality rules established in 2015 after wiwidespread organizing and protests by free internet advocates. these rules required internet service providers to treat web content equally and not block or prioritize some content over others in return for payment. the repeal of these rules was widely opposed by the american public, with more than 20 million people submitting comments to the fcc.

but trump's chairman of the fcc, ajit pai, had lobbied heavily to repeal the rules. on thursday, ajit pai, was joined by two fellow republican commissioners, and the fcc voted 3-2 for a repeal. latest and most controversial of a series of changes led by chairman ajit pai . over the last year, he has also loosened rules aimed at limiting media consolidation and scaled back a p program aimed at expanding broadband access among low-income americans. for more we're joined by maya , wiley, senior vice president for social justice and professor of public and urban policy at the new school. welcome to democracy now! talk about your concerns. this vote that happened on thursday, is it set in stone? there are still movements all over the country that are pushing back very hard. >> absolutely. let's start with the fact this

is a devastating blow to all of the ways we have come to understand the internet, even those who are part of the founding of the internet have expressed deep, deep concern for the failure to protect net neutrality. even though we just got the rules in 2015, the truth is, we been fighting for net neutrality since the mid-2000's. this isn't really new. the fafa there wasas a fight met we were essentially seeing some sense onin the gentle internet service providers to do the right thing. happened now is, first of all, yet members of congress considering whether to use the same actct the donald trump used to roll back privacy protections regulations that the obama administstration hadad approved- which allowed 60 days for congress to essentially say, repeal those rules. now given the current makeup of the house, obviously, unlessss more republican arart to realize

their own constituents will be harmed by these new rules, then we may not see -- amy: explain how you see, what you think is most going to be lost in this rollback. >> i think what people havave to understand is the e internetet service providers, of which we have far too few in this country -- we should have much more competition anand we have. we don't because we have essentially grant to the monopolies in exchange for providing what is called universal service. said,he fcc has done a we're not even when a put you in the category anymore of being required to provide universal service. we're really going to treat you as an information provider. of course, really isn't an accurate way of thinking about internet service provision anymore. what that really means is we of 62 million americans in urban areas and 16 million americans areas that still don't have broadband at home. essentially saying, ok, we're not going to say universal

service to you anymore is one of the big aspects of this new role that we have to understand. in addition, when you add the content blocking or throttling content, when we have. little competition in the space, it is telling consumers are going to have a choice of going to another provider in very many places to say "well, i want to be sure you're not going to block my content." amy: you see whole cities getting short shrift? >> all over the country -- amy: especially poor areas. >> p poor areas are e already in trouble. they are still -- there is still a fundamental divide. in urban areas, 62 million people. a big part of that for urban areas is cost. for communities of color, what we're talking about is costs go up because you're saying essentially to providers, you can charge -- you're going to charge companies, but that means they're going to pass thohose .osts off to speed up

we in the united states pay more for less. we pay a lot more for internet and get a lot more poor service. here,hen you have right eric schneiderman, new york attorney general, threatening to sue to block the repeal and a dozen states attorney general's investigating "fake comments?" >> we have at least what has been uncovered about 2 million comments bots. , which are not people, erog the name "bot." peopley pose as actual and submit a comment. that.s identity what eric schneiderman was doing is saying, i'm investigating the new york state crime of identity theft because we have had residents whose identities were falsely used to make comments that they were not making. he had asked be fcc to hold back on passing the role until they

finish the investigation. they refused. they also refused to have public hearings and allow a public discussion of the new rules. so what