09/05/18 09/05/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> mr. chairman, we have been denied real access to the documents we need dust on >> regular orders -- close which turns this into a mockery of our norm. mr. chairman, moved to adjour this hearing >> this is a travey y of ststice.

adjourn the hearing -- amy: chaos of the confirmation hearings for brett kavanaugh. we'll speak with heidi sieck of vote pro-choice who was among those detained for protesting, and with fred guttenberg, father of parkland shooting victim jamie guttenberg. he says kavanaugh turned his back when he approached him to shake hands. we'll also speak with robert weissman, president of public citizen, who said kavanaugh ruled against the public interest nearly 90% of the time on consumer environmental, and , worker rights. then amazon reaches $1 trillion in value. it's -- it's ceo jf bezos the richesman in t w world t what's behi t that althth? whatatbout its workers? >> they say safety is fstst. not the se. wh i is fits get that product to the customer. and if you d't,here's the parking lo there is your car.

get a new car and leave. amy: senator bernie sanders which reduce new legislation today requiring large employers like amazon to cover the cost of federal assistance received by their workers. we will play a report and speak with journalist james bloodworth, who spent a month undercover as a low-wage "picker" in an amazon order fulfillment center and found horrific working conditions. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. on capitol hill, highly chaotic confirmation hearings for supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh began tuesday, as protesters repeatedly interrupted the proceedings. >> this is a mockery an travesty of justice. this ia a travtyty of justice and we will not hold back. adjourn this hearing --

[indiscernible] amy: judge brett kavanaugh is president trump's pick to replace justice anthony kennedy. democratic senators on the[indi] committee also repeatedly interrupted senate judiciary committee chair charles grassley to demand he halt the hearings and allow time to pore over information contained in a ofute -- last-minute dump documents from kavanaugh's time 40,000 in the white house counsel's office. the trump administration is also withholding more than 100,000 pages of kavanaugh's records on the basis of presidential privilege. we'll have more on the first day of kavanaugh's confirmation hearings after headlines. the trump administration says it will end all u.s. funding for unrwa, the u.n. agency that provides humanitarian aid to palestinians. the move to end funding is seen as an effort to undermine palestinians' right to return to the lands they were displaced from by israeli settlers. this is chief palestinian negotiator saeb erekat.

>> i know this is an american political decision, attitude the the setettlements are illegal. actually, this is a program and -- who gave the u.s. the righght to approveve the stealif capital,my future, my by c church? they have no r right whatsoever. amy: in immigration news, nearay 500 childrdren remain sepaparatd from their parents and i in u.s. custody, more than a month after a court-imposed deadline mandating the trump administration reunite all children immigration officials forcibly separated from their parents at the border. court papers filed thursday reveal 497 c children are e stin u.u.s. custody. 22 of the chchildren are under e age of five.

califofornia congresswswoman baa lee slammed the administration for failing to reunite the children and their parents tweeting -- "this is government sanctioned child abuse. it's a violation of human rights. and it's another stain on our nation's soul." a highly anticipated book by longtime "washington post" reporter bob woodward depicts the trump administration as an out-of-control operation that chief of staff john kelly reportedly calling the white house crazytown. among the revelations in the book, defense secretary jim mattis reportedly said trump has the understanding of a fifth or sixth grader. and trump reportedly said his decision to finally condemn the deadly white supremacist violence in charlottesville, virginia, last year was "the biggest f--ing misistake i've made." trump had previously refused to condemn the white supremacists, instead claiming there was violence on both sides. the book is titled "fear: trump in the white house." now we move onto business news. amazon has become the second-ever u.s. company to reach $1 trillion in market

value. the first was apple. amazon's founder and chief executive, jeff bezos, is now the richest man in the world, with a net worth of more than $167 billion. later in the b broadcast, we'll take a l look at what's behihind amazon's wealth and the labor conditions for the more than 500,000 amazon workers. in california, lawmakers have passed a bill aimed at guaranteeing full and equal access to the internet in a major rebuke to the trump administration's rollback of federal net neutrality laws. if california governor jerry brown signs the bill into law, california will become the fourth state to enact a net neutrality since the fcc eliminated obama-era rules last year. in mexico, a television reporter was assassinated last week in the city of cancun, making him at least the eight journalist assassinated in mexico so far this year. javier enrique rodriguez valladares worked as a cameraman

and reporter for the local station channel 10. mexico is one of the dangerous -- mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. in japan, the worst typhoon to hit japan inin 25 yearars has st through the archipelago, killing at least 10 peoplele and leavina trail of destruction in its wake. typhoon jebi knocked out power for at least 2 million people and forced the closure of hundreds of schools and businesssses in kykyoto and osa. in iraq, security forces killed at least five people in the southern city of basra as widespread demonstrations continue over the lack of basic services, including clean drinking water in the oil rich region. residents say the security forces opened fire on a funeral procession tuesday for a protester killed on monday. this is a relative of the slain protester, mahdi ali. >> we were attending the funeral procession of the martyr who died yesterday and security forces opened fire on his and used tear gas to disperse protesters, therefore provoking

our testers angry over the death of their brother. protesters then try to storm and the building of the government and the were confronted with bullets and tear gas. down with the political parties. amy: prisoners are striking from florida to washington as the national prison strike heads into its third and final week. prisoners in at least states are 13 participating in work stoppages, sit-ins, commissary boycotts, and hunger strikes to demand better conditions, fair pay for work, access to education, greater rehabilitative services, and the right to vote. this is ronald brooks speakingg at lououisiana's angola p priso. >> we're anti-slavery and organizing to transform our ghettos into communitities and r jails and prisons intnto placesf human redemption, healing, hiree learning that enenable us to be productiveve in our communities and wherever our feet touched the land. amy: meanwhile, in northwest

detention center in tacoma, washington, four immigrants have reached the day of their hunger 14th strike. this is murat azaniez, an immigrant from russia, who says he will keep hunger striking until he is released. he spoke to democracy now! from the detention center yesterday. >> we're a critical conditions. reach the sink or the shower. amy: and massachusetts, primary voters went to the polls tuesday. boston city councilmember ayanna pressley made history by defeating 10 term progressive democratic congressmember michael capuano. she's now slated to be massachusetts first-ever african american congressperson. pressley was endorsed by new york congressional candidate alexandria ocasio-cortez and other progressives. she ran on a platform of abolishing ice -- that's immigration and customs enforcement agency -- and

speaking for prisoners behind bars. she's also been outspoken about being a rape and sexual assault survivor. she solidly defeated capuano, despite his long progressive record, including voting against the iraq war and supporting medicare-for-all. this is ayanna pressley in her ctctory eeeech tsday n nht. >> while o president is a truly, misogynistic, empathy-bankrupt man, the conditions which hav made this one of theost t unual l in americ was cementeted throug polieses long bebeforee ever dissted the calator trump tower. amy: shead workefor .gressmeer joe kendy shalso word forenator jn key. in anoer upsetemergencroom doct jon sanago defeed democrat progresve

statlegislat byron rhing. and rachl rollinwon th democrat nominatn for suffolk unty disict attoey a platfm of crinal justice form, inuding enng sh bail r low-lel offees. and in me electi news, i chicago,ayor rahemanuel ys will norun for -electio next yr. anthose arsome of e headlis. thiss democry now!, mocracyn.org, thwar and peace rert. 'm amgoodman. an: and'm ju gonzale welcomto all oour listers d viewerfrom arod the country d aroundhe world otests, rests, a repeated callfrom demratic setors to aourn theroceedin. tha's hoconfirmaon hearis begatuesday r judge ett kavanaugh, president trump's pick to fill justice anthony kennedy's seat on the supreme court. as the meeting got underway, demonstrators immediately stood up and interrupted senate judiarary coittetee airmanan charles grassley. >> this is a mockery and travty of justice.

is is a avesty o justice and we will not hold back. cancel brett kavanaugh. adjourn the hearing. juan: democratic senators on the committee also repeatedly interrupted senator grassley to ask him to halt the hearings and allow time to pore over information contained in a last-minute dump of 42,000 documents from kavanaugh's time in the white house counsel's office. the trump administration also is withholding more than 100,000 pages of kavanaugh's records on the basis of presidential privilege. this is democratic senator kamala harris interrupting grassley, followed by senator amy klobochar. >> i welcome everyone to this confirmation hearing on the nomination -- > mr. chairman -- >> tserve as -- looks i would like to be addressed before we proceed. mr. chairman, i would like to be recognized before we proceed.

the committee receive last night, 40,000 pages of documents we have not had an opportunity to review or read or analyze. >> you are out of order. i will proceed. >> we cannot possibly move forward, mr. chairman. >> i extend a very warm welcome to judge kavanaugh -- >> on this nominee. folks and his two daughters. >> mr. chairman, i agree with my colleague senator harris. we received 42,000 documents that we have not been able -- >> today. >> we believe this hearing should -- juan: when democrat richard blumenthal also called for the hearing to be adjourned, activist linda sarsour, director of the first muslim online organizing platform, mpower change, shouted in agreement. , i moved toman adjourn. mr. chairman, we have been denied real access to the documents we need to advise --

>> regular orders -- >> turns this hearing into a charade and mockery of our norms. esther chairman, i therefo moved to aourn hiseaearing >> ok. >>his is a mockery of avesty of justi. this is a travesty of justice and we will not hold back. cancel brett kavanaugh. adjourn the hearg.g. amy: lda sarso was dragged out ofhe hearing room dd arrested. by the e o of thmorning sessio capitit hill l lice had arrest and chaed nearly two dozen demonstrators, the majority of whom were women. by the end of the day, the number of arrests had more than tripled. as the hearing proceeded, democratic senators questioned kavanaugh's record. this is california senator kamala harris. >> if we look at his record on the d c circuit and in his recent writings and statements, it is clear the nominee has brought his political bias to the bench. he has carried out deeply conservative partisan agendas as

part as a judge favoring big business over ordinary americans , polluters over clean air and water, and the powerful over the vulnerable. just last year, judge kavanaugh praised the dissent in roe v. wade and rululed against its scared 17-year-old girl sticking to enter pregnancy. he has disregarded t the supreme court precedent to argue undocumented workers one -- weren't really in place under our labor laws. we have witnessed horrific mass from parkland to las vegas to jacksonville florida. yet judge kavanaugh has gone further than the supreme court and has written because assault "eapons are "in common use assault weapons and high-capacity magazines cannot be banned under the second amendment. when it was art of independent investigation into the democratic president, the nominee was dogged in demanding answers, and yet he has since

changed his tune arguing that president should not be investigated or held accountable . a position that i am sure is not lost on this president. in theter the protests end of the hearing, judge kavanaugh gave his opening statement. >> judges make decisions because the law and the constitution as we see them compel the results. over the past 12 years, i have rolled sometimes for the prosecution and sometimes for criminal defendants. sometimes for workers and sometimes for businesses. sometimes for environmentalists and sometimes for coal miners. in each case, i have followed the law. i do not decide cases based on personal policy preferences. i am not a pro plaintiff or pro-defendant judge. i'm not a pro prosecution or

prprodefense judge. i am a pro law judge. amy: the confirmation hearing for judge kavanaugh to become supreme court justice will continue throughout the week before the senate judiciary committee issues a recommendation. the full senate will then vote last year, majority leader m mih mcconnell used the so-called nuclear option to confirm trump's other supreme court nominee, neil gorsuch, with just 51 v votes instetead of 60. for more, we are joinened by the guests. robert weissman is president of public citizen. last week the group issued "an analysis of judge kavanaugh's opinions in split-decision cases" and found that during his 12 years on the u.s. court of appeals for the d.c. circuit, u.s. supreme court nominee judge brett kavanaugh decided or wrote an opinion against the public interest 87% of the time in split-decision cases dealing with consumer, environmental, and worker rights. we will get to him in our next segment. at first, heidi sieck is

co-founder of the national organization vote pro-choice. she was the number one member of the public to enter the kavanaugh hearings on tuesday. she was removed from the hearings after she protested. and we're joined by fred guttenberg, the father of parkland shooting victim jamie guttenberg. he attended as a guest of senator dianne feinstein. he says judge kavanaugh turned his back when he approached to shake anand certain a break.k. i'm gogoing to firirst start wih heidi sieck, member of the public number one. explain how the hearing took place yesterday. what did it mean to bebe number one? when did you get their? >> it is nice to be here. we actually started standing in line around 9:00 a.m. the night before. we wanted to make sure we were going to be of the get a seat in the hearing. the capitol police reasoning a bit of a different process where we knew there were going to be

letting small groups of people in in small time segments will stop so we were only going to have about 15 minutes, we heard, in the hearing, so we wanted to make sure that we were able to get in and bear witness to this hearing. did not spend, we a lot of time and never because we had some things to say. but the staff was very respectful. the capitol police was very respectful. there were groups of 23 members of the public that were allowed to enter into the hearing, and they were supposed to get about 15 to 20ininutes each time. so wwere the first gupup of 23. as y saiaid,hose 23 -those 23 of usere all women who were prepared to have our voioices heheard. amy: and what was your message when you stood up? >> my message as the founder of

vote pro-choice is reproductive freedom. but our message collectively was we demand that the senators vote no and do whatever they can to stop the hearings of judge kavanaugh. iced -- i stood for the rupert of the freedom of the people of america, the daughters of america. and all of us had a collective message. we were absolutely a collective group. i want to make that clear that none of us spoke alone or stood alone. we were really a continuation of the protests you sell the minute after the inauguration of president trump. these were women who marched in the women's march, that were partners of the women's march. it was a continuation of our voices. juan: and in your organizing around this nomination, you are targeting specific senators. could you explain the reasoning

behind the particular senators you are targeting? >> there is a group of us. there are many different folks that are having different conversations and organizing in different ways. groupsllective of the that are present in the capital and in the heart building for the next 96 hours during the hearings, there is a collective strategy. one is that we know the map is not necessarily on -- the mass is not necessarily on our side. keepingto talk about the caucus together and voting against kavanaugh. the focuses both on trying to persuade republican senators, particularly susan collins of maine and lisa murkowski from alaska, to vote no on kavanaugh and also to keep the democratic -- the democratic caucus together.

amy: we're going too get a break and come back to this discussion. we will ask fred guttenberg what happen when he walked up to judge kavanaugh. this is s democracy now! we will be back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: "smiling faces sometimes" the undisputed truth. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as we talk about the kavanaugh hearings. juan: protests, arrests, and repeated calls to adjourn the proceedings. that is how confirmation hearings began tuesday foror jue

brett kavanaugh. president trump's to fill justice anthony kennedy seat on the supreme court. amy: after the hearing, fred guttenberg tweeted -- "just walked up to judge kavanaugh as morning session ended. put out my hand to introduce myself as jaime guttenberg's dad. he pulled his hand back, turned his back to me, and walked away. i guess he did not want to deal with the reality of gun violence." white house spokesperson raj shah disputed guttenberg's account saying that a security guard intervened to escort kavanaugh away. shah tweeted -- "as judge kavanaugh left for his lunch break, an unidentified individual approached him. before the judge was able to shake his hand, security had intervened." we will ask fred guttenberg himself f what happened,d, the father of parkland shooting victim jamie guttenberg. she died on valentine's day at the marjory stoneman douglas high school when a gunman opened

fire. fred guttenberg our condolences on the loss of your daughter. talk about why you are in washington at the kavanaugh hearings and what happened. >> thank you for having me. i, unfortunately since my daughter was murdered, my life flipped. i don't get my daughter back, but i have become an advocate for doing something about the issue of guns in our society so that i don't end up being a dad who goes year after year to visit other parents of mass shootings. so this is all that i do now. anything i can. i meet with legislators. for me, this is not a partisan issue. ben safety is not partisan. the responses symptoms partisan, but i will talk to anybody about this who is willing to listen and consider my point of view.

senator feinstein invited me yesterday as her guest, so i was there all day as an invited guest. i was sitting in the third row behind judge kavanaugh, to his right. in fact, i was not sitting. whenever i do anything as it relates to what happened to my daughter, i do not sit. i stand. it is just my way of making sure people know i am around and that i won't sit down and make them feel comfortable talking about what happened. so i was very clearly obvious. when senator feinstein introduced me, i was standing and i waved. so i was known there. it is not like a person who walked up to him. when they announced once break, i walked to the area where all of the senators were and were judge kavanaugh was to shake hands with some of the senators thank them for allowing

me to be present. when i saw judge kavanaugh behind me, i turned around and i walked over to him to shake his hand. to simply say, "hi, my name is fred guttenberg, the father of jamie guttenberg, who was murdered in parkland." which is what i pretty much say to everybody in this town when i meet them for the first time. i want them to know who i am. to "jamie i got guttenberg who was murdered in parkland," he did a quick turn and started walking the other way. you can see it. i don't even think it was security who actually came up to him first. i think it may have been some of the administration officials who walked up to him first. i am not 100% sure. i would have to look at the video again. yes, as soon as he heard that and turned and started walking away, then there was a lot of activity to move him out. the white house spokesperson light. did not tell the truth about

what took place. it doesn't matter. i don't even care about that. i simply wanted to go up to judge kavanaugh as a father. he was there yesterday with his beautiful family. him wanted toe of talk about his family, that he is a really great dad and would be horrified if you or someone he knew directly ended up going through what i am going through. i wanted to talk to him about what his potential new job would mean on this issue. and that is it. have to look in my eye. i did not get the chance. it is unfortunate. i intend to be back there today. juan: could you talk about your concerns in terms of what you record on about his the issues of gun control and gun rights?

>> in his ruling and in his comments, he is pretty consistent in the believe there should be -- in the belief there should be nothing more related to ben safety done. a view of the second amendment the kind of gets to a place of you should not put any limits in law on it. concern.y direct across this country right now, state by state, you see gun safety taking place. states are passing legislation all over the place right now. and after every piece of legislation, the nra is filing lawsuits. for example in florida, they filed a lawsuit. , or some ofsuits them, will eventually make it to the supreme court. there is a reason why the nra is spending so much money right now to get him selected.

because those lawsuits will eventually make their way in front of a justice kavanaugh should he be selected. and he has made it very clear things like the age of 21, which is what they're suing on in florida, or red flyball's, which they're suing elsewhere. he would not think of them as constitutional. that concerns me. those two things alone are already saving lives. amy: fred guttenberg, going back to that moment with judge kavanaugh, can you explain exactly what happened? >> well, yeah. as i was saying earlier, after -- i can't remember which of the senators i was shaking hands with at the time -- i was in that area and i saw he was getting up. i turned around. he was just a couple of feet behind me. i walked over and reached out my hand. and i said, very specifically "hi, i am fred guttenberg, the

father of jamie guttenberg, who was murdered in parkland." up until i got to that last piece, you know, the murder and the parkland part, he was looking at me and listening. as soon as i got to that part, he turned around and he moved. and that is what you see -- i think there was an administration, it might have been rob steen -- that is when you saw an administration official come in and you saw secured as well. i did not go there to cause trouble. i really did not. i went there to listen because this is, for me right now, the most important thing that i could possibly be doing. i had an opportunity to extend dad in and looked dad to the eye with him and i wanted to do it. amy: and how the responder the white house looks person saying, he was taken away and had no idea who you were? i will say he is

not telling the truth. listen, i will give the benefit of the doubt. whether or not kavanaugh and that moment new who i was, i was there as an invited guest and i was introduced to everybody who was there with senator feinstein in the morning. so my presence there was not as a protester who had to get tickets to sit in the back. i was sitting third row behind judge kavanaugh into his right. and i was there all day. i don't know -- i'm not going to get into his head decided he definitely know who i was are not. i don't know, but i introduced myself. i said who i was. and when i said who i was, he heard me loud and clear.

and it was when he heard "the father of jamie guttenberg was murdered in parkland," that he turned around. juan: i would like to turn to a third guest him a robert weissman, president of public citizen. last week public citizen issued an analysis of judge kavanaugh's opinions in split-decision cases and found that during his 12 years on the u.s. court of appeals for the d.c. circuit, judgdge brett kavanaugh decidedr wrote an opinion against the public interest 87% of the time in split-decision cases dedealig with consumer, environmental and worker rights. robert weissman, welcome to democracy now! i want to ask about some of those decisions. in labor cases, for instance, it is a remarkable record. you chose to concentrate on the actual pubublic record as republicans have an urging everyone to do, and you

specifically dealt with those cases that the judge was a deciding vote in a three-judge panel decision. >> right. so judge kavanaugh sits on the appeals court. the appeals court hears cases with three judges or sometimes the full panel. decided three are to zero. they don't tell you typically that much about what a judge thinks. but when a judge is split, we know there's some difference of opinion, there's a chance for the judges to go one way or the other. studying those cases, you can really figure out over time what a judge's philosophy is. we looked at all of judge kavanaugh's split decisions and opinions. it is more than 100 of them. the results were astounding, as you say. in the employment and worker rights area, he decided 15 times for employers and only two times for employees. both times and relatively

obscure issues. so almost always for the employer. same thing for the environment. 11 times for corporations or against into the to block environmental protection, only twice for the side of clean air and clean water. the same thing for consumers. 18 to four, almost always for business, very rarely are consumers or the public interest. amy: what about issues of the environment? to thes hostile environmental protection agency. there were a couple of cases where he appears to side with the environment. but when you look at it more carefully, not so much. overwhelmingly, 11 out of these 13 cases he decided on behalf of polluters. the cases that come before the appeals courts in the d.c. circuit 10 to have to do with the operations of federal agencies. a key question is, how much to give the benefit of the doubt to the agency when you are examining whether or not it did was legal?

judge kavanaugh has an elaborate theory about that, which is interesting. in practice, it works like this. when corporations are suing, zero difference to the agency. environmental protection agency, theiren hostile, mocks decisions, and says what they do is completely irrelevant. environmental group sues to say, the agency wasn't strong enough, then he is very deferential, very generous and understanding of the agency's expertise. we see that time and again in a whole host of environmental issues, including the ultimate issue, which is whether or not the epa has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas pollution. their israel reason to assume he thinks under the clean air act, the answer is no. juan: in cases dealing with police abuse or human rights abuses, there were nine cases that were split decisions were he was the deciding vote and and all nine cases he ruled against the victims and for the a allegd

abusers? >> that's right. seven out of seven. these are cases that have come frequently before the appeals court in, so he is a bunch of these cases. in cases of desk these are civil, not criminal -- and cases of police abuse, the question is, was a police officer operating reasonably enough they should be immune from being held liable? every time for judge kavanaugh, the answer was yes. the human rights cases involve sometimes complicated legal issues, which are worth talking about. but at the end of the day, he always sides against the victim. in a couple of those cases, it had to do with the lawsuit you are covered extensively, which had to do it exxon mobil's operation in indonesia. villagers suing for horrible human right abuses conducted by the indonesian military on behalf of exxon. judge kavanaugh ruled in two separate cases regarding that post up first saying, look, if the government says -- if u.s.

government says there's a for policy consideration year, case closed. we are not going to look at it. secondly, getting to the legal question presented by different set of villagers about the same matter, he said they should have no right to sue in u.s. courts, first, because the abuses occurred overseas, but secondly, he said the relevant statute, known as the alien tort statute, does not apply to corporations. you can sue human beings under the alien tort statute, but you cannot sue corporations. corporations, turns out, are not always people. they are not people for judge kavanaugh when they might be held liable. if you look across his record, you see time and time again, this theme comes through. there is one standard for corporationsns and a different asndard for human beings they are trying to get their rights recognized. amy: robert weissman, what about

the case that public citizen had before judge kavanaugh? >> so we were trying to bring a case challenging the auto safety agency for not adopting a strong enough standard as it was required to do by congress. and this case was decided on the legal question of standing, which is the legal term for whether or not we had a right to bring a case in the first instance. what the courts say, you have to establish this idea of standing, you have to show your directly affected. that you have a real stake in the argument. we said, look, we have more than 100 thousand members. this in adequate role from the auto safety agency is going to make it more likely that people are injured and killed. none of our members wanted to be more likely they are injured or killed. a number of them are likely to be in auto accidents as a result of this inadequately protected rule. the judge said, not good enough.

-- can't say there's a jet there is a low chance that someone is going to be injured. you have to tell me the exact person who is likely to be injured. he said it is not good enough you put together 100,000 or a million people to say some number of them will be injured. you have to show the identifiable person. standardn impossible to meet when there is a risk of something happening in the future that is a relatively low probability for any individual, but near certainty for the whole population. judge kavanaugh said, too bad, can't bring a case in that circumstance. the remedy should be the victim of the auto accident that is going to happen in the future, they sue the auto company after they are injured, maimed, or killed. and that is a doctrine -- that was a big deal in that case. that mattered a lot. more and poorly is this idea of standing when consumer groups -- more important, this idea of standing when consumer groups can bring actions to challenge agencies for not doing the right

thing and judge kavanaugh's answer is, it is extremely hard for groups like ours to bring lawsuits against those agencies. on the other hand, regulated businesses, corporations, they pretty much always have the right to bring a case under judge kavanaugh's reasoning because apparently they are directly affected by the regulation. juan: rob weissman, briefly, you raise concerns about how the judge might rule on net neutrality issues. clearly, the trump administration and the fcc has done away with net neutrality. states are passing their own net neutrality provisions. what is your perspective of his views on an issue like that? >> we don't have to guess because he did rule on net neutrality issues and he an unbelievably harsh and overreaching decision. he said the sec's net neutrality rescinded,now since were illegal and

unconstitutional. so what he said was -- first of all, it was impressive to see how he characterized net neutrality in this matter. he said it would wrest control of the internet from private parties and hand it over to the government. of course, what net neutrality does is try to preserve the way the internet has always worked so that private corporations don't get the ability to censor it and to impose control over it. but what he said was, net neutrality, could it be legal because it does and be legal because it was interference in a first amendment right of the internet service provider, the isps, cable company, and others, that they had a right to determine -- he called it an editorial right -- a right to determine what flows over the cable lines. no editorial decision for comcast whether or not it is going to charge fees to netflix in any sense any human being has

about it. it is a business decision. brett kavanaugh converted that into a first amendment issue is that, therefore it is unconstitutional for the government to proceed with the neutrality rules at least absent showing some special market control by the cable companies. amy: rob weissssman, what would you as kavanaugh today and do you think this is a done deal as a number of the democrats clearly say there's no way they can stop it? >> well, i think it is important did antor whitehouse excellent job raising questions about consumer, labor, and worker rights. the question has to be, explain or double standard. you say you decide things for every buddy, but when you look at the record, you almost always decipher corporations against regular people and d your reasoning embodies a double standard. on the question of whether or not this is a done deal, the answer is no. it is not done until there is a vote.

as your first guest was saying, there are not enough democratic votes to block him comes of the first question will be whether republicans can be forced to come over. i think the democrats will be forced to stay strong if there is enough pressure brought to bear for republicans to vote no. amy: thanks for being with us, rob weissman, heidi sieck, and fred guttenberg. fred guttenberg will be there today and through this week. when we come back, amazon hits $1 trillion in value. his co jeff bezos is the richest man in the world. but what about the workersrs? stay with us. ♪ [music breaeak]

amy: "work" by eileen torrez. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: amazon made headlines tuesday when it became the second american company after apple to reach $1 trillion in value. amazon's founder and chief executive jeff bezos is the

richest man in the world with a net worth of more than $167 billion. but what's behind that wealth? what about its workers? amy: the working conditions in amazon's warehouses have been the focus of protests, union drives, and several investigations, including by student reporters. as students go back to school around the country, we're g goig to go to a report by y one of yr students at rutgers university. one gonzalez is also a professor at rutgers university in new jersey. can you introduce this? juan: this is a group of my students in my investigative reporter class who did a written and video report on amazon because there are now about 10 warehouses just in the state of new jersey that 15,000 workers that are employed by amazon will stop this is kristen charlery. >> millions ofmericans every

day ship and recei packages from amazon. inin fac thehe cpany j jt announcedt has exeded mor than00 million prime members, more thaththe polation o german amazon is e of the fastesgrowing mpanies the u.s. in the garden state alone, they plploy 10000 workers with 10 warehous.. amazon price itsf f on being reliable and convenient. whenhohoppinonlilinewe often only see the end rulult of what we purase. what autut therocecesso get the dedevery to you? at goes on inside the lfillmencenters? what is the life of the ararage amazazonorker?r? according to past and current plployee it is not an easy job. and instigatioof amazon operationsy y rutgs studes fromumumeroucacases wororke bebeg injured and even k kille t thcompany's fulfillment centerbebecaus of poorafety conditions and finesevevied againsthe comny oits bcontracrs by feral

insptors for safy viations. beginng in 201and endin in 20, 7orkers dd in aman wahouses. the aths proted the tional council r occupational safety mazon horlth tplace diy dozen st for 2018. this list isomprisedff ployoyerof it t rkers at risk due to uafafe prtitices. >> my na i is philip pellegrino. i am 68 ars old. >> i am 20. >> i work in azozon's cranberry fuillment center. i'm nuary 31 2020, i was a lifted and awkward package icich tued o out tow package for a truss -- paenger vehicle. as i lifted it, i heard somethinsnsnap imy l lefarm. i felt a lot of pa.. i realized that iusustain ann injury. generate 31st w wednesd, the

last d o of myorkk wee. when i cambaback t folollong ek, i filed a worker's mpmp. claiaim. the e aim was denie i was never given an explanatio as to y y he w denied. i requested it. theyolold me for various reasons , said spefificall whahat reasass? they said,e can't tellouou at.. they nev gavee me a medical aminatioto deterne the extent omynjury. >>t was wed becausit was almost mfirst daon the j, and we were walkg aroundnn this one point was like, "don't wo herere. ththiss basisilly slavy." i think because it was rlly rdrd worto d do,ome people -- i mn, we were getti p paid, so they were li, , oh, ah, this isis bicallylylavery. >> itheyey weo enforce

rigidly,hough saty relations d those les, it would ve a detmental iact operatial efficncy. campbell was federal agenes don't do me to hp worker >> andhe execuve direcr of new labo and cofnder of e ornization osha is critically dederfund. coanieies n'want toave -- and meanpaying me mon and minds, so in thei their justificioion islways s keep things s e way th are. d theyey have the econom wherewithal do that. at the se e timecomparedo her warouses, ty do pay more a offer aittle bit better if package, so there is that dincentiveeoeople might el more cfortableith at they e making cause of that suation. >> amazon clinedo responto ouquestionbut the mpany had said previouy of deas at e facilit "safetys our number o priorit wew dl with any incident,

review our practeses and prprotols totonsure the we-being of our emoyeeees. >> they say safety i first. not the sese. what is first is get that product to the customer. and if you don't, there is the paining lo gein yououcar and leave. >> so the next time y click and order someining onne o on amazon, think of the hidden rkrkers at m makthat all possible reportg for thwreckers i-team, i am kristen charlery. juan: that was a report by my students students at the rutgers university school of journalism and media studies. there were five of them honesty but at a much bigger and longer report which we will link to online. amy: just as we watch that report from independent senator bernie sanders h has targeted amazonon for its role in wideneg ththe wage gap in the united states. senator sanders spoke monday at anan afl-cio labor day breakfas,

and called out amazon ceo jeff bezos by name. >> i am not comfortable with one bezos might jefef [indiscernible] $250 million every single day. but there are thousands of workers who are employed by him ,ho are earning wages so low they're on food stamps, medicaid, and subsidized housing. juan: amazon responded to ongoing criticism from sanders last week in a blog post, saying -- "amazon is proud to have created over 130,000 new jobs last year alone. in the u.s., the average hourly wage for a full-time associate in our fulfillment centers, including cash, stock, and incentive bonuses, is over $15/hour before overtime. we encourage anyone to compare our pay and benefits to other retailers."

amy: this week senator sanders is expected to unveil legislation requiring large employers like amazon to cover the cost of federal assistance received by their workers. for more on working conditions at amazon, we go to britain to speak with journalist james bloodworth, who spent a month workining undercoverer as a a pr in an amazon fulfillment center and found workers were urinating in bottles because they were discouraged from taking bathroom breaks. his new w book is "hired: six months undercover in low-wage britain." welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us, james. lay out what you found about amazon. you have been tweeting nonstop about it hitting $1 trillion, its ceo, its founding had jeff bezos, the richest man in the world. it> i've b been tweetingng abot come at doing things like this in the media because it is really important i t think to recognize what that huge wealth thatat jeff bezos and amazon hae a keen relelated, what t that is built on.

went intoin 2016, i an amazon warehouse here in britain. before that, i i used amazon mymyself. it was the firirst place s so ao buy booooks or dvds, sasay. i did not t really know a much dish know much about what goes on in warehouses. i would not say i idolized jeff bezos, video some of the in the culture you had respect for. while i went into the warehouse in 2016, irene, i was really, really shocked by some of the things i saw there. i have worked in warehouses before this. it is not as if i was afraid of hard work or if this was -- i never been in a warehouse environment. the atmosphere of the amazon warehouse i worked in was what i imagine the atmosphere of a low secured a prison would feel like. this isn't t an exaggeration. for example, we had to be drug

and alcohol tested before we started work, which i've never had to have that happen before. we had to pass in and out of airports tell security gates every time we even went to the toilet during the day. if you took a day off sick, you're given a disciplinary for it. if you received six of these gummy would effectively lose your job. ifs is a day off sick even yet a letter from the doctor, even if you phone them beforehand is say you are going to be sick. if you took six days off sick, you would effectively lose your job and this is the biggest employer in the town. people were receiving disciplinary for taking toilet breaks. the productivity targets were so high that workers were afraid to go to the bathroom. a survey came out at the warehouse i worked at that found 74% of workers or pickers were afraid to use the bathrooms because of the productivity targets. -- cup james bloodworth james bloodworth, on a

productivity issue, the students in my class reported from their interviews that kickers were required to pick 300 items per hour from the various shelves in these huge warehouses, that comes to about one item every 12 seconds? >> yes. it was astonishing. the first week i was working there, and amazon supervisor told me i was in the bottom 10% of productivity. someone who is relatively healthy. i run, go to the gym, i am still reasonably young. and someone like me was at the bottom of the productivity pecking order. imagine what it is like if you're older, if you're overweight at all, if you have a disabibility. itit is impossssible to keep uph the target. what happened was people were running around us huge warehouoe

, which is dangerous, first off. you also received a disciplinary for running. to hit your target, if you did not your target, you received a disciplinary. but toto me your t target, you o break the rules by running around, for which you would receive another disciplinary. you would have a huge turnover of staff. people were being fired for anything. beforewere also leaving the full employment rights kick in. this is -- we are all agency staff. it is almost of -- you can't prove it, but it is almost as if it is intentional. they tried to get rid of you quickly because and they can bring more people and who don't have the same employment rights as a full-time employee. amy: james, you said you found urine bottles, people afraid to go to the bathroom, to take time? >> this has blown up since the book came out but it is something i saw when all is and amazon warehouse. one day i was walking arounun te

hot florida's huge warehehouse d , , yeah, i foundnd a nifty coca-cola bottle with urine in it on the shelf. you put two into together and this happened -- there's a climate of fear. you are afraid if you go to the toilet, which can take five to 10 minutes, a huge warehouse, through security, and people are being accused of taking by amazonidle time for doing this. everything that takes away from productivity at amazon is seenen as you're doing something wrong. amy: we have 10 seconds. you say at one harris -- one harold does one warehouse, and recall more than 115 times inn three years? ju yesa. that said it all in my view. amy: we are going to leave it there but wen will do part two with you and post it online.

we want to thank you for being with us. , thank you for that report. we will link to the print pieces, multimedia talents at democracynow.org. james bloodworth u.k.-based , reporter and author of the new book, "hired: six months undercover in low-wage britain." democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who apprñ