10/11/18 10/11/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> hurricane michael is the worst storm the florida panhandle has ever seen. one of the worst power storms to ever make landfall in the united states. amy: at least two people have died as hurricane michael batters the florida panhandle and georgia. the storm was supercharged by warm than usual water in the gulf of mexico. we will go to the florida panhandle for the latest. then we look at malik shahed

hussain, the owner of the limousine company at the center of saturday's crash that killed 20 people in new york. one of the worst transportation disasters in a decade in the u.s. hussain is a former fbi informant who repeatedly entrapped muslim men. landing many of them in jail. we will speak to a number of people who knew hussain, including a pittsburg man who was entrapped by him and just got out of jail. >> anything that he is involved in comes to ruin. this guy is a criminal. he is a liar. he is a con artist. amy: plus, we will speak to yale professor jason stanley on his new book, "how fascism works: the politics of us and them." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

at least two people died after hurricane michael hit florida and georgia on wednesday as a category 4 storm. nearing category 5. with winds reaching 155 miles per hour, michael is the third most powerful storm to ever hit the u.s. mainland. the carolinas are now bracing for more flooding just weeks after the region was devastated by hurricane florence. meteorologists said the hurricane michael was supercharged from the warmer than usual water in the gulf of mexico. there was almost no mention of global warming on the cable news networks. advocacy groups say the florida department of corrections has not evacuated at least a dozen in mandatory evacuation zones as of wednesday. this comes as in spain, torrential rains and flash flooding have killed at least 10

people on the island of mallorca. nine inches of rain fell in just two hours with meteorologists calling it "one in a thousand years" event. meanwhile, in indonesia, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake shook the islands of east java and bali early this morning, killing at least three people. this comes as the official death toll from the devastating 7.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in indonesia two weeks ago has risen to over dead, with 2000 over 5000 people still missing. a new united nations report says the damages caused by extreme weather events and other so-called natural disasters have costs $2.9 trillion in economic losses over the last twenty years. this is professor debarathi guha, who contributed to the report. >> we really need to have disaster risk reduction and mitigation.

in poor countries do not have 20 years my 30 years, 40 years. most of the children will be dead. this is what is going to happen. either they will be dead because of the catastrophe itself, or of thell be dead because mounting -- malnutrition that comes along with this. amy: this follows monday's report by the nobel peace prize winning united nations intergovernmental panel on climate change, which found humidity has only a dozen years global warming. we will have more on climate change and hurricane michael after headlines. "the washington post" this reporting, based on u.s. intelligence, that the crown prince of saudi arabia, mohammed bin salman, ordered an operation to lure washington post columnist jamal khashoggi back

to saudi arabia from his home in virginia. khashoggi disappeared last week after entering the saudi consulate in istanbul, with one turkish official telling "the new york times" khashoggi was assassinated inside the consulate by team of 15 saudi operatives who used a bone saw to dismember his body for smuggling body parts out of the building. the u.s. intelligence intercepts are the latest piece of evidence implicating the saudi government directly in khashoggi's death, which has sparked a diplomatic crisis for the trump administration, particularly for president trump and his son-in-law senior adviser jared kushner. kushner has actively cultivated mohammed bin salman as a key ally, praising the young leader, dining with him in washington and riyadh, and hosting one-on-one phone calls with him outside of normal diplomatic channels. on wednesday, president trump also praised mohammed bin salman, calling him a "fine man," as trump answered

reporters' questions about who within the saudi government he'd spoken to about khashoggi's disappearance. pres. trump: i would rather not say, but at the highest level. let me say this, it is the highest level. >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: yes. and more than once. >> you mentioned you had spoken with bin salmon. pres. trump: we have had a very good relationship. i'm not happy about this. we will have to see what happens. we have to see what happens. nobody knows what happened yet. they don't know over there, but it is a very serious situation and it is something we are taking very seriously. amy: in brazil, thousands of people took to the streets to protest against far right-wing presidential candidate jair bolsonaro, who won first-place in sunday's presidential election. he will face a runoff against the second-place candidate fernando haddad of the leftist

workers' party, on october 28. these are two of the protesters. >> we have the fascist threat that is bolsonaro. >> i am very scared there is a chance that bolsonaro will become president. -- iission is to make think we have 18 days to do it and try to solve the situation. amy: wednesday's protest came as "the wall street journal" endorsed bolsonaro, despite his long history of making racist, homophobic, and misogynistic comments, as well as openly praised brazil's military dictatorship. using language that mirrored president trump's campaign slogan "make america great again," the journal's editorial board wrote -- "bolsonaro is best understood as a conservative populist who promises to make brazil great for the first time. he has attracted support from the middle class by pledging to reduce corruption, crack down on brazil's rampant crime and liberate entrepreneurs from government control."

at least eight people died and another 25 are missing after a boat carrying refugees capsized off the coast of turkey en route to europe. the united nations says over 1700 refugees have died trying to cross the mediterranean so far this year. meanwhile, moroccan navy officers opened fired on a boat carrying moroccan refugees towardeurope, injuring a 16-year-old boy. last month, the moroccan navy opened fire on another refugee boat, killing a 20-year-old moroccan woman. in burma, authorities have arrested three journalists after they wrote a piece criticizing the government. the journalists from eleven media group, who wrote about the funding of the city bus system, could face up to two years in prison if found guilty of "fear or alarm to the public." in 2016, editors from the same paper went to jail over a piece accusing a government official of bribery. this arrests come just a month after a burmese court sentenced two reuters journalists to 7 years in prison for violating burma's colonial-era official

secrets act, causing international condemnation. at the time of their arrest, the reuters journalists kyaw soe oo and wa lone were investigating a massacre committed by the burmese military targeting rohingya muslims. in peru keiko fujimori, the , leader of the opposition and daughter of former dictator president alberto fujimori, was arrested wednesday over allegations of money laundering and accepting illegal campaign contributions. last week, a peruvian judge overturned a pardon of her father alberto fujimori, who is now expected to return to prison for crimes including kidnapping, bribery, and ordering massacres by death squads in the 1990's dung his presidential rule. in financial news, the dow jones industrial average plunged by more than 800 points wednesday, as stocks of tech companies facebook, netflix, and twitter all tumbled sharply. economists say the market drop

was sparked by the fed's decision to raise interest rates after having propped up the economy for years following the 2008 economic crisis by holding interest rates at near-zero levels. in more financial news, the justice department has approved a $69 billion merger between cvs health and aetna, one of the nation's largest health care insurance compans. the proposed merger is part of a wave of consolidation in the health care market, which experts say could leave patients with less control over their medical care and prescription drugs. in canada, an enbridge gas pipeline ruptured, sparking a massive fire and forcing about 100 members of the lheidli t'enneh first nation to evacuate their homes in british colombia. enbridge is behind a series of controversial pipelines, including the line 3 oil pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from alberta, canada, to a terminal in superior,

wisconsin, and whose proposed construction has sparked massive resistance from indigenous communities on both sides of the u.s.-canadian border. at the u.s.-mexico border, the family of jose antonio rodriguez marched wednesday to mark six years since the 16-year-old mexican boy was fatally shot in the head by a u.s. border patrol agent, who fired through the border fence and killed the teenager as he was walking on a sidewalk in nogales, mexico. this is his mother araceli rodrigz. was athe ther of antoniperez st we are day cause itarks theix years sinc they've asssinated son. are demanng justi. th is why are her it has been six years and there is still no justice. amy: two astronauts from the

u.s. and russia safely made an emergency landing on thursday after the failure of a booster rocket as they were headed to the international space station. and activists have turned the website brettkavanaugh.com into a resource for survivors of sexual assault. the site, whose url was secured by a judicial reform group back in 2015, now shows a picture of the supreme court overlaid with the words "we believe survivors," followed by a list of organizations seeking to end rape and sexual violence. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. at least two people have died since hurricane michael made landfall in florida and georgia on wednesday. it was the third most powerful storm to ever hit the u.s. mainland. the storm landed near mexico beach, about 20 miles southeast

of panama city. it came hore as a category 4 storm with top sustained winds reaching 155 miles per hour. the powerful storm remained a hurricane as it moved further inland. despite this, advocacy groups reported that the florida department of corrections had not evacuated at least a dozen prisons in mandatory evacuation zones as of wednesday. the carolinas are now bracing for more flooding just weeks after the region was devastated by hurricane florence. meteorologists said the hurricane michael was supercharged from the warmer than usual water in the gulf of mexico. the storm destroyed homes, snapped trees, downed power lines, and flooded coastal towns. one resident of panama city said the storm snapped trees like tooth picks. >> i work for the power company and retired. i saw a lot of storms. this one here was the worst i

have seen. u see what it did around here. it snapped trees like they were toothpicks. amy: florida's republican governor rick scott spoke in tallahassee on wednesday. >> hurricane michael is the worst storm the florida panhandle has ever seen. one of the worst power storms to ever make landfall in the united states. amy: florida governor rick scott has a long history of denying climate change. in 2011 come his administration portedly banned state employees in florida's department of environmental protection from using the terms "climate change," "global warming," and "sea-level rise." the massive hurricane comes just days after the united nations issues a major report warning that humanity has only a dozen years to mitigate climate change or face global catastrophe -- with severe droughts, floods, sea level rise and extreme heat set to cause mass displacement

and poverty. we go now to pensacola, florida, where we are joined gloria horning. social and environment justice advocate, serves on the environmental advisory board for pensacola. we welcome you to democracy now! can you start off by describing the devastation in florida? -- we reallyted .issed the bullet where the devastation takes place is about 80 miles east of here. but the issues that you just brought up is about climate change and the impact our coastal waters are seeing now waters,ise, warmer waters coming in from our storm water drains from the day.

of sewerthe impact breaks the go all over our community. , gordon, wericane had 300,000 gallons of raw displaced in- minority communities. nermeen: why specifically on minority communities? well, they are the last ones -- our infrastructure is very, very old. and what is being replaced is being replaced in more affluent communities. and the community i live in is the oldest african-american community in pensacola. we are constantly the site of flooding. i sent you a couple of pictures.

the water coming in our storm water drains. .hat is without any rain the road in front ofy house flooded just from what is coming up in the bay into our storm water drains. anso when it does rain and sewer -- mix, the sanitation cannot hold the capacity. so we are surrounded by about, i 14 sewer heads. they just blow. nermeen: what are the hardest hit areas? now isco beach right destroyed. just as it was in opal. panama city, we are still getting information from that but i do know along the downtown

area, it was destroyed. and i have seen communities further up -- u know, this thing traveled -- it is going into atlanta as well. amy: can you talk about the response of -- well, you have the mayor of tallahassee who is running for governor, andrew gillam. you have the governor rick scott who is running for senate against bill nelson, the sitting said under -- senator. can you talk about their political stances on the issue of climate change? how you think that verizon hurricane michael and how they're dealing with this storm? >> that is a great question. county, we are one of the most polluted counties in the state between cole and paper

illicitnregulated runoff. just to include, we have 11 landfills in one community and none of them are line. all of that landfiel -- landfill juice is going into r drinking water. m is all about, change. he does not believe it is a hoax. he is working very hard with groups like i am working with, the flood forum, which help people harmed by climate change and environmental abuse. gillum, i could not be happier. when i taught at floda a&m, taught him.

that tells you how old i am. but one thing he says especially, if we can reduce the rates of heart disease, asthma, respiratory, and even cancer, especially for childreand seniors, he says we have the obligation to do something. and that is how climate change and environmental injustice is impacting minority communities, children, and our elderly, especially here in escambia county. before we conclude, if you could tell us, what would you like governor rick scott to doow? >> move to another state. [laughter] sorry. day late. he is way late on this. he can't do anything. he needs to move on. he made this issue. he made this problem by denying climate change and then allowing

chemical companies and the such to pollute our waterways. you look at lake okeechobee and allowing the sugar industry to jump all of those pesticides into lake okeechobee, then go into our gulf and atlantic. and now all of that poison is up into the panhandle. i really predict we're going to have some sick folks out there, not just from the damage of the hurricane, but from the chemicals they are now going to be exposed to. amy: gloria horning, thank you for being with us, social and environment justice vocate. . she serves on the environmental advisory board for pensacola, florida. when we come back, the astounding story of the owner of the limousine service in upstate new york, a limousine involved in o of the deadliest car crashes in many years in the

united states. he was an fbi informant. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "au grand jour" by sterolab. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we turn now to look at how a limousine crash that killed 20 people saturday in upstate new york is linked to a man who is an fbi informant, long accused of lying to the government and getting away with it. the crash in the town of schoharie was the deadliest u.s. transportation disaster since 2009. the limousine had failed an inspection last month and was

not licensed to be on the road. "the new york times" reports that shortly before the crash, one of the victims sent a text message to a friend saying she was worried about the limo's condition. it has since been revealed the company that owned the car had a record of repeated safety violations. earlier this year, it was issued written violations after vehicle inspections by the new york state police and the department of transportation. on wednesday, state officials arrested the operator of prestige limousine chauffeur service and charged him with criminally negligent homicide. he is nauman hussain, the son of a pakistani immigrant named malik shahed hussain, who is the company's owner and also an fbi informant. amy: in 2001, malik shahed hussain was arrested for helping people cheat on driver's license tests. in exchange for avoiding deportation, he took a job as an fbi confidential informant, posing as a radical arms dealer

in fbi sting operations. hussain was a key figure in the fbi's case against the so-called newburgh four -- four black, muslim men sentenced to 25-year prison terms after they were convicted for placing what they thought were bombs in a new york synagogue in 2010. defense attorneys say the men were entrapped by hussain. we turn now to a pittsburgh man who was entrapped by hussain. his name is khalifah al-akili. he just finished serving nearly eight years in federal prison and was released september 20 fifth. in a moment, we will speak to him directly. he is in a halfway house. at first, we want to turn to a clip from the documentary " (t)error."

>> it was so clear i did not want to meet these guys. seriously, i literally made up excuse after excuse after excuse the next morning, walk up into the corner, and that is when " mohammed" came from around the corner, just appeared out of nowhere. hotel downtown pittsburgh, and yet he was here in wilkinsburg at 9:30 in the morning without no car, no vehicle. you just so happen to have that card on him. i reluctantly agreed to go to mcdonald's and have some coffee with him. the morning that we all came in here, we actually sat at this first boost and that is whenever he began to talk about this people being involved in jihad

and whatnot and fighting. joins usifah al-akili now on the telephone from pittsburgh. welcome to democracy now! congratulations on getting out of prison after almost eight years. when you heard about this news of the worst u.s. traffic accident in almost a decade and that the limousine that was used that was illegally on the road was owned by the fbi informant ,ho led to your imprisonment can you talk about your response shahed hussain is? >> i was completely devastated by this news, the fact that this continue toed -- live among citizens and to be out. he is a rodent.

he is a liar. he is a thief. he is a criminal. he is a scam artist. he is a danger to society. in the fact this took place more than likely the money used to build this comedy was money paid to him by our government? i mean, this is ridiculous. because is an asset to our government and bringing in manufactured cases of terrorism, this is why his allowed to continue just day in this country and a flourish and run is a legal businesses in which he is constantly cutting corners -- it is just that. 20 people die as a result of this guy's negligence? i mean, this is sick. amy: khalifah, talk about how you met hussain. >> i met him through the other informant involved in the case, shariff. he said, hey, my brother is coming in from out of town and i want you to meet him.

he is a real resourceful guy. i think you guys would get along , be able to relate. so that is how the initial introduction was made. i only met this guy once or twice -- on two different occasions. i did not want to meet him from the very beginning because i already knew he was an informant, that he was trying to entrap me. and he was very aggressive in trying to pursue me and to sit down with me, to talk with me. it is just sad, man, to hear this news. it really is. talk about where you're speaking to us from and how his actions led to your imprisonment? >> sure. i am speaking from pittsburgh. i am at halfway house. right now i'm just focused on transition back into society, to reunite with my family. this guy's actions led to my imprisonment because of his

attempts to entrap me. then after i publicly exposed him, than the government came in with a two-year-old picture of me and some friends having fun at a gun range and used that to a rack ofand give me years in federalrison. yet this guy is responsible, directly or indirectly, for the homicide of 20 people and he is not going to do a day in jail. amy: how did you figure out he was an fbi informant? >> i knew because i knew that shariff was an fbi informant. the fact this guy was introducing me to another guy, i just knew immediately. khalifah, i don't want you to get in trouble at the halfway house. i know you have to get off the air at half past the hour, so i want to thank you for much for joining us. joining us,akili talking about how he was entrapped by malik shahed owns thethe man who prestige limousine service --

the limousine that was illegally on the road, a number of his guards had failed inspection -- cars had failed inspection, yet this losing carried 20 people, the driver and 17 friends between the age of i think 24 and 34 who were all going to a 30th birthday party, two of the couples in the car had just gotten married. the driver, of course, killed, and two bystanders. we're joined by two other guests who can talk about the man who owns this service -- not exactly clear were he is right now. his son has been arrested on manslaughter charges as a result of the accident. your new york, sam braverman joins us, an attorney who newburghed one of the four after the group led by shaheed hussein. and in los angeles, lyric cabral

, co-author of -- codirector of "(t)error," a documentary that follows undercover fbi informant saeed shariff torres as he -- who khalifah was just talking about, another fbi informant. we met you at the sundance film festival a few years ago. if you can finish khalifah's story for us, how he figured out who shahed was and the significance -- he was not only involved in the gelling a minute pittsburgh, but also as we will talk with sam braverman, men in new york who were then in trapped and are serving decades in prison at this point. hed hussain, and pittsburgh he was going by the name mohammed, and he is been assigned as a mobley to investigate khalifah al-akili.

because of the newburgh four case, because that was such a publicly critiqued example of entrapment, during that trial, malik shahed hussain was photographed and exposed. his photograph was -- it was the front cover of "the new york times." because of the publicly available information, in part due to sam braverman and other defense attorneys on the newburgh four team, the responsibly information -- basically there was public information including recordings that was entered in trial in 2009. all of this was sort of public. when khalifah had his suspicions, this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. gave him ad hussain number. khalifah googled in number and it referenced a number of one of the newburgh four trial transcripts that was publicly available. khalifah through the google search was able to actually confirm on paper that shaheed

hussein was in a format. amy: that is amazing. this guy gives him a number. use very nervous about him and he checks it out on google. he sees it is the number of the fbi informant and the newburgh four case, which brings us to sam braverman. it is great to have you with us. talk about this case in newburgh. yes, it was front-page news, but i think for many people in this country, it it has long been forgotten about as they rot away in jail. >> so the trial was a simple -- i don't think anybody could honestly say they know what israel name is because he does so much immigration fraud on his original asylum application. he could be fred. nobody knows israel name. beyond that, he comes to newburgh and tasked to go to newburgh. he goes into mosques -- amy: a very depressed town. >> a very depressed town. he went into a mosque of people said, get out of here. you would to the newburgh mosque

and the imam told him to leave. no miko why? was say, let's have a holy war. the people in the mosque were saying, this has nothing to do with us. we're here to pray. we are here for a peaceful mission. he kept getting thrown out of places. he founded disaffected person in the parking lot -- amy: and is named? >> james. now by his owned absolute admission. he shot off his mouth endlessly. and then like khalifah, one-day said, i don't have any interest in this man and hid for a month and a half. hid. the fbi were trailing them everywhere. but every time he would get a knock on a store, he was hiding. when he would call me with say, "i'm out of town." moxie to dopaying something. get a job, like a salesman. as a salesman, he only gets paid if he makes the sale. -- he hasl the person

to tell the person anything they want here. so in our trial, malik shahed hussain said i will give you $250,000, barbershop, cars, travel. my client was totally impoverished. my client was bought for food. at every meeting, my client is eating. that is i you got my client to join this thing. so that was the premise that got everybody into this. once they were there shahed hussain kept doing things. the fbi was continually try to reel him in at the same time. they're saying, no, no, don't offer those things. over $5,000. he said, no, 250 is good. they did not all about it until they heard the tapes. he would offer money, then a car. he was and less. -- endless.

mostost uneducated, the unsalvageable young men, and they target them. amy: this is very significant enough thated knows he cannot just be offering financial inducements. you has to come as he talks about, the cause. they have to be there for the cause, jihad, not for the money because that will get the fbi in trouble. i want to go to the hbo documentary "the newburgh sting" which has secret recordings the fbi made of conversations within the undercover fbi informant shahed hussain and one of the men who became known as the newburgh four. you have to listen very closely this is surveillance audio and it is hard to understand. the clip begins with shahed hussain. >> what is your understanding that you make a lot of money and still be on the side of all of? >> that would be good, but i do

know what i'm going to do to make the money. >> i have a lot of ideas for you. >> you have to use the word bodies? amy: so that is shahed hussain stan you're going to get some brothers together to james. this is another clip from the secretbi recordis. this one beginwith james. none of these brothers got jobs. there are three of us without no jobs.

amy: that was james cromitie at -- and.sank him shahed hussain who runs the prestige limousine service that was involved in this deadly car crash, he was cited numerous times for dangerous vehicles. this one was not supposed to be is the one and it that crashed, killing all 20 come all 17 people in the car and the driver as well as two passersby. so talk about then defending

your clients and how they ended up in jail post up because these are such -- not summit your clients, they are clearly desperate and sometimes trying to get away from him. he is coming up with a pot all the time. he shows some synagogues and a military base. >> in the case here, there were a lot of different ways. we are compressing time innocents because it starts in early 2008 and goes all the way to 2009. nine months of recruitment. during this time, people keep leaving. my client comes in and the first time he peers on tape anywhere he says, thanks for the job, really needed a job. it doesn't say i am here to do damage to the world. "i need a job." so this persistence is what ultimately the fbi is allowed to use to say, let's can present all into one moment post up what do we have? people saying in clips, "i'm here for the job."

was about pulling back that bandage that hides the actual wounds. the wounds were shahed hussain doing whatever he wanted to do. it is not because he was an informant then and live then that he somehow legally is responsible for this. it is because every day of his life and every minute he is ever had he is had no responsibilities for anything. it comes and lies about his immigration application for asylum. never punished. -- omes here and creates lies on his bankruptcy application, never punished. he comes in for trouble and for this whole case here, live at every step, exceeds his authority, makeovers, binds the fbi to things and never punished. the man turns to the jury and says, this man is lying. never held accountable. the government says, you're doing a great job. in other cases he is done.

and now this. so the timeline is for all of us to watch this to say, he us ever been held accountable in his life for anything. so what has he learned from that? the ability to say without remorse, without concern, without any hesitation "i will do whatever i want." who says no? making hundreds of thousands of dollars and doesn't pay taxes. you lies and commits -- amy: what do you mean he doesn't pay taxes? >> the government pays him money. and go you mean the fbi? got $66,000 before our trial. he did not pay taxes. it is a gift. he learns to do anything he wants. he goes to pakistan -- wherever he is, and his son as her to stand up for him. maybe his son takes the reading frame. i don't know. nermeen: when did he leave? >> who knows.

do you think he stands on the line at jfk? he just disappears. he disappeared during the trial, came back. nobody said "we know where he is." the fbi agent handler on the stand admitted he did not follow him posted maybe he is the actual terrorist. amy: he first came to the u.s. from pakistan, fling a murder charge >> so he says. we don't even have proof of that. he said he was the victim of an unlawful arrest. we have no proof. the fbi never offered proof that was true. billy thing we know about the fbi they said before the trial, knowletter they said, we these guys are totally incapable of an operation without our informant. nermeen: i want to go to comments that have been made, statement issued by muslim groups in the u.s., the muslim solidarity committee project salon and the coalition for

civil freedom issued a statement about hussain saying -- "the limousine company's latest hit on this road of calamity. debt to justice has not been paid. the your sprint and prison and the year still deserve for the phony crimes that hussain engineer for the fbi cannot be recovered for the man u put away in the terrible irony of a felon convicted as part of a dmv scam who is now responsible for the fall to operation of a vehicle that killed 20 innocent people is not lost on us." lyric cabral, could you respond to that? and also say what you recall from hussain's testimony -- you said in fact you thought he was taking a direction from the fbi. haso one of the things that always troubled me about hussain in the statement you just said,

going back to his initial charge , dmv fraud. the fbi always says -- their argument is they need the criminal to catch a criminal. a going back to that, i believe in the early 2000's, my question is, why did the fbi to's to hire this individual? that very act, for which they could've a prosecuted him and put him in gel, is ultimately what killed these people. fraud. what he was convicted of what he should have been convicted of was the fbi knew you was doing was helping people to receive driver's licenses illegally. his son in this accident did not have a license to drive his vehicle. i have not heard much scrutiny around the fbi. to date i have not heard the bureau make a statement about this informant. but i actually question the bureau and why they chose to employ this individual after knowing his capability around these cres. amy: you spoke to the mother of david williams, one of the newburgh four.

i think there in gel for 25 years. when she learned of this horrific car crash that involved a man who ended up getting her son in prison. what did she tell you? >> elizabeth big williams was just horrified. she legally does she is wondering like any mother would, still trying to get her son out of jail. she understands that injustice occurred. i think her first response was a legal one, going back to the point i spoke on, is there anyway the fbi can be held accountable for this man now that it is clear the original crime and they heard him is what killed these people ultimately? she is wondering how this current event might impact her son's charge, might impact's david freedom. amy: and your response, sam braverman, when he heard what happened? >> it is more of the same for this young man. hussain does whatever he wants to do throughout his life. it is not just that they are

sociopaths among us, because there are. it is when the government tolerates this sort of craziness. like the last story about governor scott in florida. and hide inour eyes the sand. if you hide in the sand about the environment and justice, about all of the issues important to us, why do we ever think we should be credited? the bottom line is, they wrapped their arms around a liar. and here is -- they reap what they sow. the newburghfilm sting, quoting in a very agent , his colleagues at the fbi were saying, you know, the rules to longer apply. he is walking around saying, what are you talking about the rules the longer apply? >> he said the rules? you mean the constitution? it is a great film. amy: sam braverman, lawyer for one of the newburgh four, lyric cabral codirector of the

award-winning documentary "(t)error," which is now on netflix. and we want to thank khalifah , halfwayfor joining us house in pittsburg, as we continue to try to figure out what is taken place on the roads of upstate new york and where at is. point shahed hussain his son is in gel. this is democracy now! fascismcome back, how works. a new book by yale professor jason stanley. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "bella ciao" performed by modena city ramblers. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we end today's show with a remarkable new book titled "how fascism works: the politics of us and them," which focuses in particular on current trends under the trump administration, arguing the president is not as much of an anomaly in american history as we often think. the book's author yale professor jason stanley whose prince were both holocaust survivors that came to the u.s. as refugees, shows instead that "in its own history, the united states can find a legacy of the best of liberal democracy as well as the roots of fascist thought."

indeed, miller was inspired by the confederacy and jim crow laws. he also warned of the dangers of normalizing fascist politics saying "what normalization does is transform the morally extraordinary into the ordinary. it makes us able to tolerate what was once intolerable i'm making it seem as if this is the way things have always been. amy: we're joined right now by jason stanley, philosophy professor at yale university. his new book is out. it is titled "how fascism works: the politics of us and them." books, "how propaganda works." professor, it is great to have you with us. why are you releasing this book now? >> we have a global ultranationalist far right movement crossing many ,ountries, bolsonaro in brazil

and they feed off each other. i think right now it is very important to make people aware of the features of fascism. the historical features and to alert people to the fact that the united states has always been vulnerable to this kind of politics. amy: define what fascism means to you. >> it is an ideology based on power. liberal democracy is based on liberty and equality. liberty and you quality required truth. you need truth to speak truth to lied to, if you are you are not free. nobody thinks the people of north korea are free. they have been lied to. if you're going to attack liberal democracy and replace it with power, you need to smash true. fascism is an ideology based on power and loyalty. -- it is based on hyper nationalism post up so one group loyalty to one group and one person, the leader,

represents that group. it is hyper masculine and hyper patriarchal. amy: what are the 10 pillars of fascism? ,> number one, a mythic past which the leader hearkens back. number two, propaganda. certain kinds of fascist propaganda where everything is inverted. the news is the fake news. anti-corruption is corruption. anti-intellectualism. as steve bannon said to him a motion, rage gets people to the polls. we got elected on "lock her up" and "build her up." want to object of the least educated people. number four, you have to smash truth. reason gets replaced by conspiracy theory. i got out of my academic shall when i wrote about for the birtherism.

you smash truth so that all remains is loyalty. hierarchy. in fascist politics, the dominant group is better than everyone else. they were like the great people in the past who deserve respect just for being them. victimhood. the dominant groups are the greatest victims. the men are victims of encouraging feminism -- encroaching feminism. law and order. what are they victims of? the outgroup who are criminals. what kind of criminals are there? rapists the sexual anxiety. is sodom and gomorrah. the real values come from the heartland, the people the city are decadent. and 10, google workshop make you free."

workshop make you free." amy: i want to turn to one of the features of fascism as you identified, this unreality. year and he this took aim at the media as he has multiple times. used a phrase that prompted comparisons with george orwell's dystopian novel "1984." pres. trump: just remember what you are saying and what you are reading is not what is happening. we have to make our country truly great again. remember, "make america great again," and then in 2.5 years, it is called "keep america great." nermeen: that is trump earlier this year. george orwell's line reads "the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. it was her final most essential command." new talk about this particular

feature of fascism as you see it in the u.s. under trump? >> trump is very clear that loyalty to him is the only guy. reality is the greatest threat to fascism because fascism is based on power and reality is a way of responding to power. you say it is false. yet to make everyone destabilized, not connected to the truth. you have to represent yourself as reality and show you are stronger than reality because fascism about which is no and power. amy: you are the son of holocaust survivors. how does that worry and your scholarly work and what you're seeing now and whether you believe you could talk about the united states in this way right now? >> i remember when i talked to my power about being the son of a holocaust survivor in the read piece.es baldwin's 1968 these

one of the light and it was "you think you're more connected to us because of our shared history of oppression. we are more angry at you because our shared history of oppression because we know you are glad not to be us. so because of my background, my mother worked in manhattan criminal court 33 years, i knew the united states was replicating features of nazi germany and eastern europe with respect to its black population. i was raised with an understanding of mass racialized, mass incarceration. i lived through it. we are still living through it. 9% of the world's prison population is black america. -- 9%aprosyn of the world of the world? >> comes from that tiny group of 30 million people. if the nation of black america words own country, issued the third-largest nation on earth. that is an emergency. we came in. we long had this fake news

directed against our black population. it is completely unsurprising that someone came and that said, hey, you're used a fake news been directed against this population. let's just generalize it and directed against everyone. nermeen: what are the into seton's to trump? >> the antecedents to trump are, well, the kkk, the america first movement is an antecedent to trump. he references it. is anroughout -- nixon antecedent to trump. he slashed social spending to increase crime. .o nixon amy: we will continue the conversation after the broadcast and posted under web exclusives .t democracynow.org jason stanley, author of "how fascism works: the politics of

us and them." democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

these films are so popular because they minister to a need in the audience to believe the whole american experiment is a success. war is mostly boredom, long periods of boredom, punctuated by terrifying madness and surrealism. but it's impossible to actually show. (explosions) annenberg media ♪ and: with additional funding from these foundations and individuals: