10/26/18 10/26/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy:y: from pacifica, this is democracy now! come is moving forward as the first state of turning alaska into a sacrifice zone, like they've done to the gulf of mexico. it jeopardizes the indigenous food security. it threatens the ecological diversity of the arctic seas, and it really creates a problem for the climate crisis.

amy: for the f first time, t the trump administration has approved a plan for a cocompanyo drill forr oil in fefederal wats in the arctic ocean off alaska. we will speak with subhankar banerjee, a leading arctic photographer and conservationist. then as the mariana islands recover r from the strtrongest m to hit thehe united states since 1935, we go to the florida panhandle, which was devastated by hurricane michael. we will speak to the owner of the sand palace, one of the few homes still standing in memexico beach. >> i believe in the bible. i also believe in science. causes know what all these storms to be so frequent now and so ferocious, but i did read al gore's book 25 years ago and it made sense. amy: the tyndall air force base in florida has virtually been

turned to rubble by hurricane michael. at least f22 stealth fighter about $6amounting to billion, were damaged or destroyed in the storm. finally, in the wake of the murder of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi, we look at how elite u.s. universities are facing new scrutiny ovever their close ties to saudi arabia. all that and more, coming up. welcome to d democracy now!, democracynowow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. authorities are continuing to investigate suspicious packages containing homemade bomb devices targeting high profile democrats as well as the cnn news network. investigators say the bombs may have originated in southern florida and were sent through the u.s. postal service. the 10 packages beining examined had a rereturn addreress f f fla representative debbie wasserman

schultz. three packages were intercepted thursday, two headed for vice president joe biden in delaware and a third to actor robert de niro in manhattan. other targets of the packages are billionaire philanthropist george soros, the obamas, the clintons, congressmember maxine waters, former u.s. attorney general eric holder, and former cia chief john brennan -- whose package was delivered to the offices of cnn. this is fbi assistant director william sweeney. days, 10he last few suspicious packages were located at multiple locations in new york, maryland, florida, delaware, and los angeles. andenforcement responded each package was collected by experts in examinations are now underway at the fbi lab in quantico. as to the device located in new york, which contained a powder, the initial analysis indicates that the powder in those particular envelopes did not

present a biological threat. other analysis is ongogoing. amy: turkish president recep tayyip erdogan is urging saudi arabia to didisclose who was responsible for ordering the murder of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi, as well as the identity of the local cooperator involved in the murder plot. erdogan also said turkey has more information about the case than it has shared so far, suggesting he could release more details if the saudis refuse to reveal vital information. this comes as saudi arabia admitted khashoggi's killing was in fact premeditated, contradicting the saudis' earlier claims he died as the result of a fistfight gone awry. saudi arabiaia's chief prosecutr is set to meet with turkish prosecutors sunday as part of the ongoing investigation. meanwhile, the united nations is calling for an investigation into the murder. this is the united nations special rapporteur on extra-judicial executions, agnes callamard, speaking atathe u.n. thursdsday. >> it is not quite possible for the state to wash its hands from

the behavior of those actors, whether or not some even hire up requested those acts. where do we stop? where do we begin? where do we stop the construction of the state? handsate cannot wash its from its responsibilities. amy: meanwhile, back in the united states, cia director gina haspel has briefed president trump on her recent trip to istanbul where she was reportedly played the audio tape of khashoggi's murder. salah bin jamal khashoggi, the son of the murdered journalist, has arrived in the united states with his family after being allowed to leave saudi arabia. although he is dual u.s.-saudi citizen, he had previously been restricted from traveling by the saudis. thisis comes as the saudi investment conference known as

"davos in the desert" wraps up where deals reportedly worth at least $56 billion were made, despite many high profile company heads and political figures s supposededly boycottig the event. though many sent the pepeople ty supervise. we will have more on saudi arabia's financial ties with the u.s. later in the show. in immigration news, president trump is continuing to escalate his attacks against the central american caravan heading toward the u.s.-mexico border. president trump is planning to deploy up to 1000 additional troops to the border. he is also reportedly considering using executive action to shut down entry into the united states through the southern border altogether, a move that would be similar to his 2017 travel ban, widely known as the muslim ban. this comes after trump admitted he had no evidence to back up his claims that terrorists from the middle east and gang members were among those traveling with the caravan of asylum-seekers who many are fleeing widespread violence and poverty in honduras. olympic gold medalist and reality tv show star caitlyn jenner has revoked her support

for president trump after they planned to narrow the legal definition of gender to an individual's biological sex at birth. jenner had previously supported trump. in a new op-ed for "the washington post" titled "i thought trump would help trans people. i was wrong," she wrote -- "the reality is that the trans community is being relentlessly attacked by this president. he has made trans people into political pawns as he whips up animus against us in an attempt to energize the most right-wing segment of his party, claiming his anti-transgender policies are meant to 'protect the country'." in environmental news, the trump administration announced wednesday its approval of a plan to drill for oil off the alaskan coast. hilcorp enenergy's s proposal to drill in the beaufort sea would be the first oil and gas production facility in federalal waters off alaska. meanwhile, france has apppprovea planan by oil company total to

start drilling off the coast of french guyana, which located in the north atlantic coast of south america. environmental groups condemned the plan, raising concerns over threats to the region's biodiversity and calling out the -- region's biodiversity. we will have more after headlines. in south carolina, two sheriff's deputies were fired wednesday for their role in the deaths of two women from a mental health facility, who both drowned in a van overcome by floodwaters from hurricane florence while in law enforcement's custody last month. the two officers, who were also in the van transporting the women, survived. 45-year-old windy newton and 43-year-old nicolette green had gone to hospitals when they were involuntarily committed and detained. an investigation into their deaths is ongoing. to see our full coverage of this story, go to our website at democracynow.org. senate judiciary committee chair chucuck grassley has asked the justice department to investigate lawyer michael avenatti and his client julie swetnick for possibly making false statements to congress

about supreme court justice brett kavanaugh and attempting to obstruct the senate investigation into kavanaugh. swetnick wrote an official statement to the judiciary committee of accusing kavanaugh of attending parties in the 1980's where he would help get women drunk who were then gang-raped. grassley said that contradictions in her story require further investigation. in response, michael avenatti tweeted -- "let's start the investigation tonight. i will make my client available for a sworn interview and you can make judge kavanaugh available for a sworn interview. we also have 9 other witnesses we want interviewed and specific documents we want requested. let's go." the guardian repororter who was body-slammed by montana congressmember greg gianforte last year is threatening to withdraw from their settlement if the republican congressmember continues to lie about the attack. congressmember gianforte pleaded slamming beny

jacobs and settled with him after agreeing to make a donation to the committee to protect joururnalists and acknowledging that he assaulted jacobs unprovoked. however, gianforte recently made comments to a local paper defending his earlier story to the police that jacobs initiated the attack. gianforte is currently running for re-election. last week, president trump praised him at a montana rally for the assault, saying -- "any guy that can do a body slam, he's my kind of guy." in europe, nato forces have launched the biggest war games since the end of the cold war, amid escalating tensions between nato and russia. about 50,000 soldiers from 31 countries are participating in the mock battle in norway. this comes as poland says the u.s. is welcome to station medium-range missiles in poland, and that it supports president trump's decision to withdraw from the 1987 intermediate-range nuclear forces treat with russia. experts warn trump's decision to withdraw from the landmark treaty could spark a new arms race. president trump imposed new sanctions against hezbollah on thursday. the restrictions will racket up

-- ratchet up financial sanctions against hezbollah, as well as sanction companies or individuals who support its fundraising. aipac, the american israel public affairs committee, had lobbied for the increased sanctions against hezbollah, which the united states has branded a terrorist organization. in ethiopia, lawmakers appointed the country's first female president thursday. sahle-work zewde is a high-level diplomat who served as head of the african union prior to her presidential appointment and is currently the only woman president in africa. earlier this month, prime minister abiy ahmed unveiled his new cabinet, appointing women to a record 50% of positions. in spain, thousands marched in the capital madrid thursday to protest plans to bury the remains of former spanish dictator general francisco franco in the city's almudena cathedral. franco's family is seeking to move his remains to the madrid landmark, despite government and public objections. wouldit were up to me, i

chuck him in a ditch like hundreds of spaniards come in a ditch, yes, but not here. amy: franco led spain as a military dicictatorship fromom 9 to 197975, after hisis forces claimed victory in the brutal spanish civil war which killed half a million people. during his rule, he suppressed political opposition through extrajudicial killings,, abductions, and forced labor. in britain, the country's data watchdog hit facebook with the maximum possible fine for failing to protect u users'' personal d data in the cambridge analyticica scandal. the fine is equal to around $650,000 -- a fraction ofof the possible $22 million it t might have been if the b breach had occurreded after european unio's new data protection laws were in effect. the watchdog found that facebook gave app developers access to personal information of f some 7 million users without their knowledge or consent. the political consultancy group cambridge analytica then used the data to sway voters to support president donald trump during the 2016 campaign.

back in the united states in hartford, connecticut, community members gathered wednesday in front of ice offices to ask for a stay in the deportation of nelson pinos, an ecuadorian man who has been living in sanctuary at the first and summerfield united methodist church in new haven, connecticut, for the past year. he has been in the united states for over a quarter of a century and lives with his wife and three children. and in pennsylvania, move member mike africa, sr. has been granted parole and released from prison after a decades-long campaign to win his freedom. on tuesday morning, mike africa walked free after more than 40 years behind bars and reunited with his wife, debbie africa, and his son mike africa, jr. both mike and debbie were arrested during a massive police raid on the philadelphia move house in 1978, during which one police officer was killed. debbie was released in june. this is mike africa, jr. speaking about his father during an exclusive democracy now! interview in august, alongside his mother debbie. >> my father was my first hero.

my father is mikeke africa. to be his son is one of the biggest honors that i have ever had to experience. and thenking about him kind of person he is and the effort that he puts into being right in the love that he has for his family. amy: the remaining seven move members of the move 9 who were arrested in 1978 remain behind bars. to see the whole democracy now! interview with debbie and mike africa, jr., go to democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin with the historic announcement by the trump administration to approve a plan to drill for oil off the alaskan coast. on wednesday, department of interior approved hilcorp energy's proposal to o drill in the beaufort sea, six miles off the alaskan n coast. it would be the first oil and

gas prododuction facility in federal waters in alaska. hilcorp plans to build a nine-acre artificial island about 20 miles east of prudhoe bay,y, not far from the arctic national wildlife refuge. dubbed the liberty project, the operation plans to extract about 70,000 barrels of oil per day on the state's north slope. this latest moveveontinues the trtrp administstration's targetg of the alaskan arctic. last year legislation to allow drilling in the arctic national wildlife refuge was quietly added to the republican tax code overhaul. in january, the white house proposed a massive offshore oil and gas drilling plan to allow it in nearly all federal waters, including sales off the alaska coast. the arctic refuge is rich in biodiversity and home to caribou, polar bears, and musk oxen. millions of migratory birds gather there from across the world and whales reside just offshore. it has also been home to generations of indigenous people for thousands of years. we are joined now by professor

subhankar banerjee, activist, photographer, and professor of art and ecology at the university of new mexico. author of "arctic national wildlife refuge: seasons of life and land," and editor of his the exhibitioion, nature's nation: american art and environment, at the princeton university art museum, through january 6, 2019. subhankar babanerjee, , welcomeo democrcracy now! talk about the significance of this week's trump announcement. >> thanknk you for having me. i bring you warm greetings from my indigenous brothers and sisters who are working very hard right now to defend the arctic. callis is what we would ushering in a new era to open up the arctic seas of to oil and gas development. this is one small step, but significant one. you started with saying the amact it had on florida

hurricane michael. and all of the floor is that we had last year, the extreme warmrmg in the arctic is directly related to the climate breakdown that is happening all over the planet right now. it is warming extremely rapidly. what does this mean? helping to mitigate the climate crisis, they are turning the arctic ocean and all a picturealaska into escape. -- petroscape. this is a conditional approval, meaning it is not entirely -- they can't move forward. they still need a whole bunch of other permits before t they can veve forwardrd to start the process. of exploration of the arctic seas of alaska started in the 1970's. there have been two kind of

waves. it went until the early 1990's when no major discovery was made, so president george h.w. bush canceled the entire exploration program for the arctic seas of alaska. it was revived. ever since then, so anything that is taking place in arctic seas of alaska, we should look at not just what president trump is doing, but as a continuation from bush to obama to trump. president obabama supported offshore drilling for basically most of his presidency, except to the last part of his administration. so what does this mean as it moves forward? it is not a technically full offshore floating platform, but an island they will build and then there's a pipeline that will connect the mainland to this island.

it would be like 60 to 70 miles offshore. which is a whole different thing. but all of this threatens the indigenous food security, the incredible diversity that you spoke of of the marine life and those arctic seas, and is very close to the arctic wildlife refuge, which we're trying to defend. amy: hilcorp energy plans to build a nine-acre gravel island not far from the arctic national wildlife refuge, one of the world's last pristine wildernesses. this is gwich'in tribal government member samuel alexander testifying last year during a senate committee on energy and natural resources hearing. >> when we talk about the refuge, we talk about land. it is tied to our language and our understanding of the world. caribou, , we'rere connected to them. we recogninize that. i hear this talk about development all of the time.

"we need to develop this, we need to develop that." what i think is we need an understanding of the sustainability of life that we live as gwich'in, right? we're not asking for anything. we are not saying we neeeed hospitals, we need schools, we need all of these things. we are not saying give us money. we are saying, let us live as gwich'in. alexander.s some talk about how this fits into trump's plan for energy development. >> trump has initiated what he calls energy dominance. secretary zinke he said that energy dominance will come to the state of alaska. they have initiated full on war on alaska's arctic, on the national wildlife refuge, the arctic ocean, as well as a lake -- all of which are threateneded right now. sam alexandeder spoke about actually indigenous food security.

he gave a beautiful speech last year. right now the gwich'in nation on both sides of the u.s.-canada border, allies, really trying very hard -- any day now the trump administration will release what is called the exploration of our mental assessment -- environmental assessment. it threatens the polar bears. that, iner mid-november, we're expecting a draft environmental impact statement on the lease they plan to release next summer. the process that should have taken three to five years. they are stacking it in one year. they are fast tracking it. they are undermining environmental regulations. very large coalition of the indigenous human rights and environmental groups, both in u.s. and canada are fighting all of this now. amy: hilcorp's track record?

>> the company that is proposing to build this liberty project has a horrendous track record of pipeline spills in the southeast of alaska as well as in the gulf of mexico. and right now, this was not reported in "the washington post," they are asking foror a waiver of the corrosion protection on that pipeline. so it is saying it is not a done deal yet. there are various permits that still -- that hilcorp still has to give. they have a hororrendous record. we know theyey turn the gulflf f mexico basasically into a garbae dump. that is what they're basically offering for the arctic ocean. we will fight it very hard. subhankar banerjee is professor of art and ecology at the university of new mexico. he is author of "arctic national wildlife refuge: seasons of life and land" and editor of "arctic

voices: resistance at the titipping point." when we come back, the fx of hurricane michael on the air force base in the florida 50handle that housed about f-22 fighter jets. we will talk about what has happened to them. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. on thursday, vice president mike pence traveled to the tyndall air force base in thehe florida panhandle, just over a week after the base was largely destroyed during hurricane michael. the base is the home of a fleet of 55 f-22 stealth fighters. before hurricane michael leveled the base, at least 33 of these

jets were flown to safety, to ohio. but at least 17 of the planes, costing about one third of a billion dollars each, $339 million each, were likely left behind and possibly destroyed because they were not air-worthy at the time. there are several air bases located right on the coast in storm-prone areas in states in the south where scientists anticipate that climate change induced hurricanes will grow more intense and more frequent. on thursday, vice president pence vowed to rebuild the entire base. to talk more about this issue, we're joined by pulitzer prize winning journalist dave philipps. he is a national correspondent for "the new york times." one of his recent pieces is headlined, "exposed by michael: climate threat to warplanes at coastal bases." dave, welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about what you understand happened at tytyndal? >> sure. well, as we know, hurricane michael, when it developed, it

developed very fast and gogot mh bibigger than n was predicted. i ththink it reaeally caught tha force offguardrd. so for decades, , what the air force has done -- and also the navy and the army and marines, who all have their own aircraft -- what they've done when one of ththeir fields is in harms way s fire upp the planes and fly them off to safety. in this case at tyndndall, they flew most of their f-22's to air force base in ohio. and that works if f you c can gt your p planes s started. atat the f-2 is a veryry sophisisticated and sosomewhat finicky plane. according to air f force repepo, only about h half of them are mimission-ready at any one time. so w with only a couplple of das notice of this impending storm, they were not able -- we're hearing 17 planes -- going. they put them in hahangers onone

base. they hoped for t the besest. the best t did not happen. whenenurricane michaelit t the coast, it hit didirectly on tyndall air force base. the wind were measured up to 130 miles per hour beforere the ba's when speed measuring equipment broke. we do not know how ferocious the storm really was. after, , the base was flattened. many of the hangars had the roofs ripped off, buildings were flooded. i ththink the air f force in its assessment is saying almost -- the base i is almost a complete loss. the planes of behind, the air force is being careful about what it says,, but they say many of them are damaged. amy: many of thehese belieievedo be, what, 17 of 22's? >> 17, whichch is worth somewhee arouound $5.8 billion dependingn

how you count it. compare that too replacicing the entire base, which would onlnly cost about $1.5 million by the air force's estimation. these plans are litererally irreplaceaeable and at her tremendous cost. amy: think about this. president trump has been talking about a caravan of immigrants coming up from honduras making its way to mexico, talking about a threat to national security. if p people learned there was an air force base on the southernrn border that was almost l levele, that perhaps 17 7 of it leading ,et fighter planes destroyed people would say, who did that? who was the e enemy? what we're talking about -- i mean, talk about the element of this storm that relate to climate change. the fact that they could not move these planes -- they simply were not airworthy at that time, but if they had time, the

intensity, the f frequency, how fast michael hit the panhandndl? >> well, that's right. so the air force has been dealing with danangerous storms that damage its b bases since te time when n the destruion n was measurured inn blelends. there e used to it i thinink it is the cost of doig business. there are ny r reasons t that te mimilitary wantso have a fields down on the cocoast in the southeasastern uninited stes. the question is, how d do those costss change if and when storos frequent, whenen they become strongeger, and when the stormm surge that comes in bebecomes higher? i think becausese there is unceaiainty herere, they don't know w what to prepare for and w bad d it is g going to get. but i ththink tyndl was s realla wake-up call because it showedd how vulnerable they really are.

amy: what about vice p president pepence going to the base and saying they're going to rebuild tyndall? >> i think you can argue that in some casases, rebuilding these bases couldld make sense ifif yo it right. on n the coasts is hellllhole for a a couple of reasons. one, you wanto b be able t to control your borders. we sort of taken forranteded ththat you peaceful borderers rt now, but that may not always be ththe case.. anand, t two, the air force d dl of thehe services have to do a t of training. the aircrcraft are rlly y loud. sometitimes a are shooooting missiles and shooting down drones, and they need an empmpty place to ditit. most of the into o places they e are overer the ocean. so it t is hard to say, well, wy do you move your baseses to ohio or kansas or arizona? so the question isis, if you wat to stay, what dodo you have to ? the air force actually has a

case stutudy of this. it hasas enough for spacace on . and ththat pacific ianand is rit in the mdle of typyphoon a alle. you were talking earlier i in te short of the supuper typhoon tht just hit. well, those tytypes of t typhoos repeaeatedly over the years. what they ha d done is t they he hahardened the sucuctures ththee alalmost a as if they were expeg them to get bombed. gars are built out off heavy steel l and concncrete. even the housing is built out of concrerete so it can sustain wis up to 200 miles peper hour. that type of thingng can work, t it t takes investmt.t. one of these hangagars could c t $100 m million.. i ththink the problem is whether the e military will invest.t. are they going to get serious about this stuff and will do have supupport from m the administration to say, oh, we need to be prepared for bigger

and more freququent storms, so e need to have an infrastructure that will allow these bases too survive? i think those are probably discussions gogoing on right now at the pentagon. amy: hasn't t been for a a numbf years,s, dave philipps, the pentagon is s fully well aware f the threatats of climate change? it has r released report s sayit isis one of the greaeatest thres to national security in the 21st century. but you still have president trumump doububling down -- i'm , and the past he called it a chinese hoax. what is the significance, the practical effect of this denial, what it means for b bases like tyndall l and f future onones tt could be e leveled? >> during the obama administration come e and to an exextent dururing the bush admininistration, there was reay a push btop leadedership toto prprepare fofor climatate changn the military. that meant making sure that

bases were more resilient, that they were looking at morere nobe energy, and lookingng more at sa level change. what i have heaeard from peoeopn the leadership is that that push from the white hououse is s no longer there. but there is still enough inertia within thihis huge bureaucracy that is the military, that a lot of this is caring forwaward. there are a a lot of us e pepeoe in the m military, and thehey gt it.. they need to preparere for a threat thahat right now is mucuh bigger - -- much bigger t than y conventional enemymy. i think ththey arere still doin, but the question is, will that speed that carried over from previous administrations s slowy diminish without leadership from the top? we will see.

i think watching howow they rerebuild tyndall and look at other airbases i is goining to a gogood test. bubut certainly, thehere is no t now these placeses are really vulnerable. amy: what most s surprised you n your reporting, dadave? >> you know, so whwhen these stormserere bearining down, they brought their aircraft they knew were not airworthy a and put thm in the strongestst hangars. these arare hangarars that had .urvived every storm prereviousy i think ththey hoped for the be, and ththey lefeft. and when we s saw the f footagem the airir the morning after the storm ripped thrhrough, these hangars were in ribbons. you could see the planes covered in debris. i think at that point, it was not expected -- i wasn't expecting it. obviously, they were not expecting a. i think it showed how muchch thinings may be changing.

amy: dave philipps, thank you for being with us. a final question, how willing was the pentagon to admit what nearly $ $6 billion in some of s most sophisticated stealth fighter jets were destroyed? >> they were not willing at all. it took us doing -- ththey don't talk abobout it. it took k us doing sluicicing oe ground and m maps ababout were r planes were to figure out there were a bunch of the missining. they havave not gigiven us any accounting of f what kind of damage has happened. amy: you saw the tails, , saw wt these f-22's -- you knew what they looked like. >> right. we were able to match their silhouettes in the debris. amy: dave philipps, thanks for being with us pulitzer , prize-winning journalist, national correspondent for "the new york times." we will link to your piece "exposed by michael: climate threat to warplanes at coastal bases."

as we go just 15 miles from the tyndall air force base and the florida panhandle to mexico beach, florida, which was practically wiped off the map after hurricane michael. on the beach, one of the few houses that still stands. images of it are stark. it is known as the sand calais. last weekend, we went to mexico beach. democracy now! travel to the florida panhandle and we found .ussell king at his home he is an attorney from .hattanooga who owns the palace >> my name is russell l ng. we are here at mexico beach.. we are r rebuilding. mexico beach i is a wowonderful community, great people. i am confident we are to rebound. amy: so your house, called sand k to thestances star

rest of the area. >> this is really old country florida where the houses were on slabs. as you look back behind me and you see those houseses, you know they had no chance at all against the surge. the big storm whenever it hit here, it is going to devastate it. that is why houses have to be put on stilts, as they say. this house is on stilts. amy: this house, in many ways, is untouched. you have the stairs that broke away on the first floor. >> the ground floor broke away. it is designed to do that way. i argued with them in the beginning. the ground floor, those few feet, you give up and you don't have it structurally tied to the house or dodoesn't do damamage o the house. so whatever is down there is going to be wiped away. isbig grill, monster grill

gone that took two people to move. this storm picked up cars, picked up one man's house and put it on top of another man's house. mothther naturure is special. amy:y: in about a yeaear, you bd a a houstoto withstand 250 mile per hour winds, category 5 storm and beyond? >> we hope. god knows i hope somehow these storms lose their ferociousness. the men that just left, he stayed here during the storm. he stayed a short distance away in panama city is that he will never stay again. we're looking right now, how do we make it even better because another one is coming some day. amy: let's talk about that. you built this house to withstand climate change. the increasing intensity and ferocity of these storms, scientists say, i mean,

overwhelmingly, this is being fueled by human activity. your thoughts on this? >> i believe in the bible. i also believe in science. i don't know what all causes these storms to be so frequent now and so ferocious, but i did read al gore's book 25 years ago and it did make sense. amy: you are from tennessee, although this is your beach house. tennessee, the land of al gore among others. ophet on climate change. you are in a land where the president denies climate change. what do you say to them? look at look around and the science. sometimes peoplele say things politically to be asked to be e. if there's a 1% chance that human activity has contributed to this, look at that closely. there, iis data out

mean, show it to me. i don't know except i see people down here hurting terribly. people have lost everything will stop whatever the cause, whether it is human activity or not, to build down here, you're going to have to do more and i'm going to have to do o more to survive the next one. i would hope the politicians would do more to try to deal with what is going on. if we canan put a man on the mo, we can solve this issue of carbon. we can do that. if we have the willpower. people need to quit denying science. amy: why do you think it has happened? down the road i talked to a woman who is an owner of another house that did pretty well. she talked about building two new standards, and that is why she thinks that happen. when i asked her about climate change she said, "i'm not going there." why isn't this just about science? >> here is my opinion, and i may

be wrong. they are confusing the message with the messenger. because of the fact, particulararly because gore jumd on that issue, everybody else felt l like they had to be agait it. they can be for it. it is like yet a l lot of people against medicare when medicare started. and now if you say anything himt -- that about medicare it is political death. the same thing should be t true about science. me.ephew built a house with he has doubts about it. he is a doctor that has doubts about, to the extent that human activity is contributing. i don't know. maybe it is a chinese hoax. at here ism looking not a chinese hoax. those are real people who are suffering terribly. and why someone would have the attitude "i'm not even going to consider the possibility of human activity," you know, but if you start talking about coal in an election, you lose was

virginia and kentucky and parts of tennessee. but coal is terrible. it is tough on the miners in one of the worst jobs in the world you can have with the survival rate -- look at their life expectancy. in most coal mines, we can get other jobs. they can be building solar panels. there are other things we have to do. there is a price to be paid for it and a price to be paid for putting a man on the moon, but we wanted to do it. we can solve this and it should not be a republican or democratic issue. it should be a people issue and a planet issue. that is just incredible the greatest country in the world, we think of ourselves as the greatest country in the world, we would fail to be leading on this issue. the are some great leaders. just because some politicians make political hay out of denying climate change and laughing about it, doesn't mean the rest of us can't do something. we told them in the beginning, "i want a concrete house that

will survive a hurricane." there went my roof and other things and my dormers. less glass, more concrete. amy: and even according to the new standards, they said 30 foot pilings, uf or 40 foot. talk about the meaning of that. difference, aight couple thousand dollars, seems to go little bit deeper on the pilings. whether that made a difference or not, i don't know. 30 may have just been fine. amy: the first floor is not a house, it is where the water -- folks it is where we park our cars. there is a storage room back there. that storage room isis gone. amy: the ocean just went through ththe first floor. >> took it out. the building behind you where the workmen are, water was on the second floor 18 inches they told me. 18 inches on the second floor. water't have any signs of

on the ground floor to see where it was because they said it came in clean. the further you get inland, the more you see the marks on the walls. were don't know where we except we know we lost the ground floor and was probably right up to the ceiling down there. amy: of course, the water just came in and receded and you had nothing there to -- >> it kept on going and took out other people, though. my debris can cause trouble downstream. so that is what we're looking at right now is how do we do things where we survive -- we have minimum amount of damage and we don't damage other people. amy: do you want to show me what you have inside? >> the only thing i can think of that i did not follow the engineer's advice on was this area here. we had a camera there that watchehed the whole storm come . i could not watch it. my nephew kept calalling me andi

kept hangiging up on him. amy: becausese you were too ups? > i said, "don't call me anymore." out, thed the pier go water come in, watch this turn into a part of the ocean -- total devastation. probably everything you see probably is going to have to be torn down. this is the road to the pier. there were townhouses on both sides of the road, all built on slab, all destroyed. or most, but all are destroyed. that is true everywhere on both sides of highway 98. the lady you mentioned you talked to her, "don't go there." don't go there, go here. look at that. amy could you think people should build so close to the ocean? >> ooh. probably not. amy: that is russell king. he owned and built the sand palace in mexico beach in the

panhandle of florida. it is one of the only houses to remain intact on the beach in mexico beach, built to its stand and nearly category 5 storm. russell king comes from chattanooga, tennessee. this is democracy now! when we come back, elite universities in the united states been questioned about their ties to saudi arabia and its funding. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. eridoganh president urges saudi river to discuss who ordered the murder of jamal khashoggi, we ended today show looking at how u.s. universities are facing new scrutiny over their close ties to saudi arabia in t the wake of khashoggi's murder. earlier this year, mohammed bin salman visited both harvard and m.i.t. on his first official tour to the u.s.. ahead of the meeting, m.i.t. students presented their university's president with a stack of petitions protesting bin salman's visit. >> we want to urge the president to reconsider them meeting with mohammed bin salman. we are aware this meeting is going to happen but we feel that accepting resources from somebody the sort of likike --

without a acknowledging there ae substantial damamage being causd by bin salman in yemen goes against the principles that m.i.t., which is 20 to maintain human rights. amy: both harvard provost alan garber and the m.i.t. presisidet rafael reif met with crown prince mohammed bin salman. saudi officials lalater publicid it on social media in a move critics it was used to give the crown prince legitimacy. meanwhile, yale university law school's abduallah s. kamel center for the study of islamic law is reportedly funded by a saudi potentate. and the university of new haven in connecticut has formally partnered with king fahd security college in riyadh since 2016. when the partnership was first announced, university of new haven president kaplan said -- "we are excited to put the university of new haven's world-renowned programs in criminal justice, national security, and forensic studies at the service of the kingdom of saudi arabia's next generation

of security professionals." democracy now! reached out to harvard, m.i.t., to the university of new haven, and yale university law school's abduallah s. kamel center for the study of islamic law. none of the institutions accepted our offer to join us on the show. but for more, we are joined by two guests. in boston, massachusetts we're joined by yarden katz, a department fellow in systems biology at harvard medical school. he wrote an article for the guardian on saudi crown prince mohammad bin salman's visit to harvard and m.i.t.. his piece, focusing on the kingdom's close ties to u.s. universities, is headlined "elite universities are selling themselves -- and look who's buying." and in hartford, connecticut, we're joined by stanley heller, executive director of ththe mide east crisis committee. he's also a member of the coalition to end the u.s.-saudi alliance. we welcome you both to democracy now! yarden katz, explain your response when you heard about what happened to "the washington post" columnist khashoggi, the

latest news, you know, turkey demanding the crown prince come clean on what he knows and who ordered this murdeder. your response to that and how this can next to your protest? >> right, so i think it is important emphasize the protest started before the khashoggi horrific murder. so when and salman was being greeted as a reformer when he visited the united states in the spring, he was visiting harvard and m.i.t. is welcome and already a local antiwar group here mass peace action was protesting the visit. we said -- they said, we do not want this war criminal on our campus. the problem is, we did not know when to protest because the universities kept the visit so secret. who are wrotegue the piece with started investigating it and we found bin salman was going to be close to buy the m.i.t. media lab, one of the schools most famous laboratories. and that visit was kept very

secret. people in the lab were told if labab,nt to access the they would have to go through metal detectorors, but they y we not t told w why. bin salman on that daday receivd demos of the latest technologies at m.i.t. he met with leading university officials. he was demoed were technologies, as robots, and sign many partnerships with these universities and also his visit signaled the continuation of existing ones. so back then, students were protesting it, activist were protesting it, and even after loving, kittredge city council passed a resolution condemning the visit and condemning the way that m.i.t. and harvard handled bin salman's visit and greeted him as a kind of reformer as opposed toto the war criminal tt he is. so the khashoggi affair obviously has reignited interest in that, but it has been going on since march. amy: and you suggest that not

only didn't they publicize the visit, you're saying they try to cover it up. >> yes, absolutely. you can see the contrast and the way these elite universities talk about their partnerships with the saudis and the way saudi arabia talks about it. so whenever you have a partnership like that would in elite institution like harvard or m.i.t. that has a very progressive and techy image, the saudi government uses that on social media, use it to sort of create the illusion that they are really also a progressive government, that they're really on the same page with m.i.t., that they superficially use the same language. on the other hand, universities have not said much about it. they only put out a press release after the fact. they're trying to minimize that. because i think they realize it does not look good. here you have a representative of an absolute monarchy coming to campus and there's a devastating war in yemen, activists are being silenced and thrown in jail and saudi arabia.

so it is not a good situation. universities know that viscerally, but they want the money and prestige of affiliating with these groups. i would also like to add, though, this is not just a saudi issue. we are not saying the universities like harvard and m.i.t. are so ethically pure meet with thet saudis, but formed partnerships that are formed in secret. sometimes it is a foreign government at the e saudi government and sometimes it is a dubious american actor. for instance, m.i.t. has numerous hardships with raytheon and lockheed martin that are weapons many factors, the biggest supplers to saudi arabia. the school bus that was demolished in yemen, that attack was used a lulucky made bomb mae in the u.s. -- lockheed bomb

made in the u.s. that is a partnership that is tied to this web of uncountable partnerships that universities form all the time. amy: how did m.i.t. president rafael reif respond you? >> i greatthat is a question. the lack of response. .e had a piece in the guardian after our piece, the m.i.t. student newspaper published a very forceful and perceptive editorial talking about m.i.t.'s hypocrisy and the gap between its espouse ideals of making the world a better place and its reality of hosting a war criminal. then there was the cambridge to the council resolution that i mentioned that was passed unanimously come also condemning the universities. this ad reality is, the universities did not have to confront any of this. they did not respond to the resolution by cambridge. they did not respond to our peace. the only response was a mighty

president rafael reif writing an op-ed in the student newspaper in response to the editorial basically not engaging w with te issues and just saying, look, universities have to make compromises. it is a balancing act. and we prefer dialogue over no dialogue. amy: the assistant vice president of two medications at harvard university malia jackson declined our offer to be on the show. but she did send democracy now! a statement that read in part -- "as a global research university, harvard has a broad and robust scholarly engagement in the middle east, including in the kingdom of saudi arabia, and has benefited immensely from the intellectual contributions of saudi-based individuals over the years. we are following recent events with concern and are assessing potential implications for existing programs." now i want to turn to university of new haven in connecticut. stanley heller come you're a member of the coalition to end the u.s.-saudi alliance. talk about what happened at unh

and at yale. >> good morning, a amy. we have been alarmed for about a year and a half that the university of new haven has a program, kind of secretive. we don't know exactly what it is. collegeits henry c lee that specializes in forensic and police work helping a college where all of the police in saudi arabia go for training. we wrote to them. we had a letter signed by nearly 50 prominent americans tellining them, warning them about saudi arabia. we got n no response at all. that was about a year ago. then the khashoggi killing, we started wondering what is going on. startedish sources saying, leaking that the alleged

that was a topn forensic scientist. so we are starting to think, forensic scientist, that is some of the things that henry c lee college is famous for. we did some poking around on some saudi websites, and we saw the editorial board of a saudi forensic society had on it henry .ee in a dr. salah this was extraordinary. so we send out press releases. we have e been trying to get soe response t to the university. the university any year and a half has never said a word to us, but they do say some things to the media. the first response was, well, we are told that it is a different

man. the spelling is different and so on. that seems pretty odd there would be two saudi top forensic namame.t with the same so we wrote to that society and asked them, is there a second man? we never got a response. then just a couple of days ago on the editorial board page, in english, salah's name was removed. we think that theory of the two men the same name has been put to rest. amy: stanley heller, we have to go to break that we will do part two and post it online at democracynow.org. we have to end the show. stanley heller, executive director of the middddle east crisis committee. yardem katz, department fellow in systems biology at harvard medical school. 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

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