03/28/19 03/28/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is decrcracy w! >> this is the quality o life issue. you wantoo tell people that theiconcncerand ththr desese for clean air and eaean water is elitist? tell that to theidids in the south bronx who are suffering from the highest rates of childhood asthma in the country. amy: after senate majority leader mitch mcconnell pushes for a vote on the green new

deal, new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez calls the move a bluff votes. we will look at what the proposal is for a green new deal with rhiana gunn-wright, one of the lead policy writers for the deal. then after two deadly crashes, the senate pulls hearings -- holds hearings on how the federal aviation administration let the airline industry regulate itself and whether to approve a former lobbyist to head the interior department. we will look at regulatory capture with public citizens robert weissman. >> the more we learn, the more we are learning ouout the faa is capturing control by boeing, the company is supposed to be regulating. that is not a unique situation. corporations in all sectors contend -- controlled or unregulated. amy: then as neo-nazi james alex fields pleads guilty to 29 counts of hate crimes in a federal court for plowing his car into a crowd of antiracist

protesters in charlottesville, killing one, we will speak with stanford professor jennifer eberhardt about her new book "biased: uncovering the hidden prejudice that shapes what we see, think, and do." >> what happened in charlottesville is something that is happening, to some extent, all over the country. struggling with race in both new and old ways. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. executives at boeing have tacitly admitted that software in the company's 737 max airplanes may have played a role in two recent deadly crashes in indonesia and ethiopiaia. on wednesday, boeing executives laid out plans for new software updates to the 737 max plane, giving pilots more control of the aircraft. many aviation security experts

believe faulty autopilot software was to blame for the crashes of lion air flight 610 and ethiopian airlines flight 302, which killed a combined 346 people. this comes after "the new york times" reported both those flights lacked optional safety features that could have prevented the deaths. on capitol hill, acting faa administrator daniel elwell on wednesday defended his agency's oversight of boeing. he was questioned by massachusetts senator ed markey. >> i find it hard to believe that a safety company like an airline would save a couple thousand dollars on an option that might improve safety -- >> it may be hard free to believe, but it is happening. amy: this comes as "the wall street journal" reports boeing sought to accelerate the development of the 737 max jet by lobbying to reduce regulatory scrutiny while requiring as little new training for pilots as possible. we'll have more on boeing later in the broadcast.

a federal judge has struck down rules in kentucky and arkansas requiring medicaid recipients to work in order to receive healthcare under the federally-funded program. under the states' medicaid work requirements, which were encouraged by the trump administration, all "able-bodied adults" who get health insurance through the affordable care act's medicaid expansion are required prove that they're working, studying, or volunteering. on wednesday, u.s. district judge james boasberg ruled t the requirements were arbitrary and capricious and said they exceeded medicaid's mission to provide health coverage to the needy. the rulingng could affect six other states that imimposedd similar ruleles and seven other states who've applied for medicaid work requirements. at the u.s.-mexico bordeder, custs and bordrder protection says it wi r reassign hundreds of agegents to the pt of a t trp aposostle t they face a a surgf migrants seekingng asylum in the

u.s. the announced him as cbp confirmed hundreds of migrant families they can find them behind a chain-link fence topped with razor wire the parking lot of an el paso border virtual station. this is imimmigrant rights activist. >> they are being keptpt behind cages and in tents as a mothers are being treated very badly. the families are being trtreated badly and the chilildren are beg treated b badly. this is no condition too keep fafamilies andnd babies. ththe rhetoric rings spread abot these families is completely inhumane. it is amy: president trump told a meeting of republican lawmakers tuesday that puerto rico has received too much eight cents hurricane maria devastated the island. senator marco rubio told reporters trump said the eight "is a way out of proportion to what texas and florida and others have gotten." his comments came as lawmakers

said more a for puerto rico must be included in a 13 to $14 billion disaster aid package being pushed by republicans. his study by the universities of michigan and utah found federal aid to puerto rico was slower and less generous after herkimer area that federal aid received by texas and florida after hurricane harvey and irma. president trump has still not acknowledged that more than 3000 people died in puerto rico after the hurricane. in florida, authorities have identified a second survivor of the february 2018 parkland mass shooting who died by suicide this month. 16-year-old calvin desir took his own life on saturday, just days after 19-year-old sydney aiello also died by suicide. 17 students, staff, and teachers were killed in parkland on valentine's day last year in one of the deadliest school shootings in u.s. history. if you or someone you love is in crisis, you can reach the national suicide prevention

lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. on capitol hill, some democratic lawmakers are calling on the trump administration to rescind new rules that make it easier for u.s. weapons manufacturers to sell grenades, flamethrowers and semi-automatic rifles overseas. under the new rules, gun-makers no longer need to be licensed by the state department to sell weapons like the ar-15 to foreign buyers and will instead only need a far-easier-to-obtain license from the commerce department. on tuesday, minnesota democrat and freshman congressmember ilhan omar took up the issue at a house foreign affairs committee hearing. she was questioning jeff abramson of the arms control associciation. >> on march 15 of this year, there was a shooting at a mosque in christchurch, new zealand, that left 50 people dead. the shooter was armed with five guns, two of which were semi automatic rifles.

is it your understanding that this policy would make it easier for american manufacturers to export that weapon? >> that is exactly what we're talking about. amy: this comes as an undercover investigation by al jazeera english found officials with the national rifle association gave advice to members of australia's far-right one nation party on their campaign to overturn australia's strict gun control laws enacted after a mass shooting in 1996. this is an nra media liaison speaking in washington, d.c., to members of the one nation party in a secretly recorded video. >> youou have somebody whwho mae linkeded to your side that workd at a newspaper or maybe was covering citity hall o or a crie reporter -- print up stories abo peoplee who were robbed,d, beaten, whatatever it might be, that cod have helelped had a had a gunun. that will be the angle of your story. we've got to put those out every week.

amy: meanwhile, huffington post is reporting an official with the national rifle association corresponded with a prominent sandy hook conspiracy theorist to call into question the school shooting in parkland in an email obtained by huffington post, nra program coordinator mark richardson wrote to the wolfgang halbig just one day after the massacre -- "just like, there is so much more to this story. the parkland shooter was not alone." the email was made public as part of the discovery process in a lawsuit by parents of victims of the sandy hook massacre against alex jones and his website and for worse. jones a far-right conspiracy , theorist who's denied that 20 schoolchildren and six adults were killed in the 2012 mass shooting, calling survivors of the massacre crisis actors. in virginia, self-described neo-nazi james alex fields pleaded guilty wednesday to 29 counts of hate crimes in a federal court for plowing his car into a crowd of anti-racist

protesters in charlottesville in august of 2017. as part of the deal, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. lalast december, a v virginia jy sentenced fielelds to life inn prison for murdering anti-fascist protester heather heyer and injuring 28 others at a counter-protest of the white supremacist unite the right rally. facebook said wednesday it has banned white nationalism and white separatism from its social media network. facebook says it will redirect users trying to engage in such content to a page for the nonprofit life after hate, which seeks to help people leave hate groups. in t texas, a houston-ararea coy official is under fire after he criticized a judge for speaking spanish onon television. on harris county judge lina march 25, hidalgo was giving updates in both english and spanish about a chemical fire that was burning at a petrochemical plant in the

houston suburb of deer park. the press conference was carried live on the facebook page of houston's cbs affiliate khou, where mark tice, a chambers county commissioner, posted the comment -- "she is a joke. english -- this is not mexico." following a public uproar, tice later apologized. census data show harris county is 42% l latino and d nearly haf its residents speak a language other than english at home. back in the united states, a new york city suburb has banned children who aren't vaccinated against measles from schools, markets and other public spaces, , amidst one of the e worst u.s. outbreaks in decades of the sometimes-fatal disease. rockland couounty executive ed y said the ban will target parents who refuse to gi t their children the mmr vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella. >> effective at the stroke of midnight tonight, march 27,, anyone who is under 18 y years f age and is unvaccinated against

the measles will be barred from public places until the declaration expipires in 30 days or untntil they receive at least their first shot of mmr. amy: the order will affect an estimated 6000 unvaccinated children and their families. the outbreak, which has seen at least 150 people infected with measles since last october, has mostly been confined to rockland county's orthodox jewish community, which hasas particularly low vaccination rates. in california, a federal jury ordered monsanto to pay over $80 million to a cancer survivor whose illness was found to have been partly caused by the herbicide roundup. 70-year-old edwin hardeman says he sprayed the widely used herbicide on his property for almost three decades and once got the product directly on his skin. he has been diagnosed with non-hodgkin's lymphoma. the jury's award could have implications for hundreds of others accusing the company of making them sick. and the trump administration is struggling to justify its plans to cut federal funding to the special olympics and other

programs benefiting students with disabilities, while spending tens of millions more to fund charter schools and higher salaries at the department of education. under president trump's 2020 budget plan, education secretary betsy devos proposed zeroing out funding for the special olympics -- the third year in a row she's made such a request. this is betsy devos being questioned tuesday by wisconsin democratic congressmember mark pocan. >> do you know how many kids are going g to be affected by that t , madam secretary? mr. pocan, let me sasay again we hahad to make some decisioio wih this budget. >> how m my kids, not about the bubudget. >> i i don't t know how manany. >> 27272,000. i will answer r it for youou. 272,000 kidids affected - -- also organization, well supported by the philanthropic sector as well. amy: as of thursday morning, a moveon petition asking devos to reverse plans to cut programs

for special olympics had gathered nearly 100,000 signatures. last year, congress allocated about $17.6 million to the special olympics. "the washington post" reports that figure is roughly equivalent to amount taxpayers allocated to president trump's last five trips to his golf resort in mar-a-lago, florida. 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. the senate on tuesday rejected the green new deal after 43 democrats voted present on the measure introduced a republican senate majority leader richard mcconnell. four other democrats joined all 53 republican senators in voting against the green new deal. democrats, including the bills champion new york congressman alexandria ocasio-cortez, blasted mcconnell's move to push the procedural vote, calling it

"bluff vote." the green new deal six to transform the u.s. economy through funding renewable energy while ending u.s. carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. democratic leaders have resisted backing the deal, which has the support of all 2020 democratic presidential hopefuls in congress. amy: on tuesday, republican senator mike lee of utah ridiculed the green new deal on the senate floor. during a 14-minute speech, he showed a series of fantastical images that included former president ronald reagan riding a dinosaur and aquaman on a giant purple sea horse. lee also evoked luke skywalker from "star wars" riding a tauntaun, a mythical snow lizard to belittle the green new deal. this is part of lee's speech. >> i rise today to consider the green new deal with the seriousness it deserves. this is a picture of former president ronald reagan,

naturally firing a machine gun while riding on the back of a dinosaur. this image has as much to do with overcoming communism in the 20th century as the green new deal has to do with overcoming climate change in the 21st. tauntauns, mr. president. what perhaps not as efficient in some ways as airplanes were snowmobiles, these carried species of space lizards offer their own unique benefits. all residents of a white would be left with is this. this is a picture of aquaman. i draw your attention, mr. president, to the 20 foot impressive seahorse he is .riting under the green new deal, this is probably hawaii's best bet. amy: on twitter, congressmember alexandria o ocasio-cortez accud senator lee of not taking his job seriously.

she wrote to her followers -- "if this guy can be senator, you can do anything." this is thomas member ocasio-cortez speaking on the floor whi has beewatched more than 10 lien times. >> will we talk about the concern t the environme as an elittt concern, one year ago i was waitressgg in a cccco sh in downtown manhattan. i justot healt insurance for the first time a month ago. this is not an elitist sue. this is a quality of li i issue yowant t ttell people that their concern and their dirire for clean air and cleawawater is elitist? tell that to the ki in the soh bronx which are ffering from the highe r ratesf chdhooood thma in the country. tellhat t tohe famamies in flint whose kids have their brains are damaged

for li.. telling as those kids are turned get on a plane to davos? people are dying. amy: that is alexandria ocasio-cortez. for more, we're joined by rhiana gunn-wright, one of the lead policy writers for the green new deal. she is the policy director for the nonprofit new consensus. rhiana gunn-wright, welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. before you explain exactly what the green new deal is and what you're working on leading to 2020, can you explain what happened in the senate this week? what was this procedural vote that congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez called a bluff votes, called it a sham? what happened and why did the democrats abstain? >> mitch mcconnell or i should say majority leader mcconnell decided that he wanted to do this vote a while back when the green new deal started to pick up steam.

and this was the fruition that actually got pushed back once or twice. estimation, i focus on policies are not an expert on the political side, but it was really an effort to embarrass andcrats to show cracks support for the green new deal and essentially to try to stop the momentum. my understanding of the democratic response was that there is a deep interest in the senate and keeping the momentum of the green new deal going, but some members do not want to vote on it until there is more policy. so this was the middle path they chose in order to still allow the green new deal to develop policy to grow legs and to continue moving forward. nermeen: what do you know about what democrats at the moment, what their opposition to the green new deal is? >> largely, it is the resolution is a nonbinding resolution that sets out goals and does not have policy specifics right now.

and so that is the main opposition. and my understanding, i think there are some fears also about cost and feasibility from particular senators. but i think it is also important to recognize all of the senators who are currently running for president have backed the green new deal. of course, senator markey has been a champion and has been a veteran climate hawk. there is pronounced support in the senate, but there's also some reservation. amy: so what happened with the voting down a bit and the democrats of stanchions, that does not mean that they do not support the green new deal? >> no. amy: what is the resolution that congressmember ocasio-cortez and senator markey put forward, and what is still in process? what is evolving? >> the resolution that came out set out high-level goals for the green new deal. in a lot of ways, it was meant tobe a marker in the sand say these are the goals of the green new deal, these are the

projects that are part of the green new deal, and this is the approach the green acetate, particularly around issues of equity and justice. so that is what the resolution sets out. it was always meant to be a floor, to be a marker. so what is happening now, a lot of the work we're doing at new consensus is the policy development. we now have the goals. we have the projects. we are trying to figure out, along with a country of expertss invovolved in movement, policy, and academia, what is the smart path forward on all of these goals and how do we actually achieve the things set out in the resolution. amy: i want to talk about one of the issues you raise about people's concerns about the green n new deal, namely expxpe, including dedemocrats. last month, california senator dianne feinstein camame under fe afafter a vivideo showing her interaction with a group of youth climate activists, some as young as 7 years old, went viral. in the video, feinstein dismisses the students' demands to take action on climate

change, including supporting the green new deal. let's go to part of that exchange. > 're tryining to promote -- >> there are reasons why i i can't, because there is no way to pay for it. >> yes, there is. half -- a lot of it is going to military. i understand ththat. the united states government does a lot of things with h the money. they are importatant things. you justst can't g go in and sa, ok, we're goingng to keke huneds of millions s from here e and hundreds of millions from their. it just doesn't work that way. amy: that is senator dianne feinstein speaking last month. can you talk about what t exacty is the expense of the green new deal? and even more, what is the expense of not acting on the green new deal? >> so the expense of the green new deal is largely unknown

because there are no policy specifics. but there is plenty of research and evidence about the cost of decarbonization, which is exactly what the green new deal sets out. and also the benefits from green jobs. one smaller green jobs report that professor robert pollin put out recognizes -- and it is far smaller in scope than the gnd. and for that, it was 2.7 million net jobs created. -- if you're going at zero, you see millions of jobs. similarly on the cost side, deep did organization grows our economy. rocky mountain institute, they say it will grow the economy due to carbonization 2.5 times the american economy and save $5 trillion. there are studies, not from us about what these things cost to implement, and also the benefits and the savings that come.

on the cost of not implementing known butare more there are a lot of queuestions because a lot of those estimates actually we don't know all of the second order effects, so the cost will likely be greater. last year, nasa found the u.s. economy lost $91 billion to climate change alone. thathere other estimates 500 billion, 2% of gdp was lost. from climate change. nermeen: and what about the fact that republicans have been about such bizarre things the green new deal? i mean, we just saw a dinosaur and a tauntaun. what is that about and how can you possibly combat that? >> the reality is they are not taking this seriously. in the way we combat that, at least at new consensus and the

context of the green new deal, as being willing to work with everyone but also not pegging our hopes or vision to republican talking points or republican solutions on climate -- which clearly, if you're showing dinosaurs, there are none. amy: president trump told fox news wednesdayay he wants to campaign again t the green newew deal. so we does not want it killedd off right t away. pres. . trump: i d don't wantnto speak k badly about the green nw de because, , ankly, i'm afraidid they will s stop usingt the i really do want to campmpaign against it. its s ridicuus.. it iss crazy. itit will cost $100 t trillion. nobodydy knows w what that mea. that m means i iis more money tn u u have iththe worl straw fit.cut a it is not going to happen. it is just talk. amy: so tell us the substance of it, not only of the science of the green new deal, but also the issues of, for example, how you're going to address the

racial welfare dispirited and why you see that connected to a green new deal. >> there are couple of reasons we see that as connected to the green new deal. one is a moral argument. a lot of the people who are dying from fossil fuel pollution, who are caring the heaviest burden, are people of color and poor people of color. likely when climate change could except in we see more disasters and deaths, those are the first people who were on the line, people like to say, change will kill us all but the truth is climate change will kill some people first. there is a moral imperative to make sure in the green transaction those who bear the brunt of our reliance on fossil fuels are not the same people who the green transition is being built on their backs. so that is one. in the second is, income inequality and climate change are linked, not only because we have an interactive economy, but because there's a growing body of evidence that especially in rich countries, the more emissions you have.

the mechanisms are not clear and there are lots of theories about it, but the evidence is clear. so if you're going to tackle climate change and tackle it in a way that is sustainable, you have to be talking about inequity. you have to be talking about racial inequity as well because those are drivers. and the way that we think about addressing that is making sure the policies are crosscutting. examples inf the the bill is upgrading all homes and buildings. you can structure that program through federal jobs here in tea, through local programs, through thank you bait her's and just through the dust incubator, and just high split of the work between different types of buildings to make sure that people of color are benefiting post of another way we are constantly thinking about the racial wealth gap is how do you make sure the transition brings total income, but that income can be translated to wealth,

particularly for people who are -- those areo be the things we're thinking about. those are the reasons we think it is incredibly important to make sure racial equity is involved. and then from past things like world war ii and when we see people are not involved were included, you see those effects for generations. we do not want another set of problems that we are dealing with just kicking the can down the road. amy: frontline communities, why this is so important, why your climate legislation is so different from others? >> a couple of reasons. those people are the people who are most on the line. the second, there's a political resume. people of color and folks in frontline communities are much more inclined to care about climate change. the issue is they do not have the resources. they face a ton of threats that are not just climate. if you can link them and do it successfully while continuing to fofocus on deep to carbonizatio,

you could open up a whole new bucket of climate voters in a situation where power, particulularly when the gop is o entrenched it in, is going to be crucial to passing in a climate legislation, large or small. on tuesday, sean duffy suggested the green new deal only served the wealthy. >> focus on the rich, wealthy, he leads who will look at this ago, i love it because i have big money in the bank. eveveryone shohould do this. we should all sign on to o it. but if you are a poor family just trying to make e ends meet, it is s a horrible idea. nermeen: democratic representative alexandria ocasio-cortez of new york otot back with a passionate defense of the grereen new deal. >> we talk about the concern of ththe environment as an elitist concern. one year ago, i was ititressg sp in dowown manhatta i ju g got hlth h inrance fo ththfirst ti a month ago. istssue.n an elit

thiss s a quity-y-ofife issue. uu want to tell pelele the coern anandesire for clean air d d cleawater is elitist? tell tt t to the kids in the sosouth onxx which are severing fr t the highest rates of chchildhd asthma in the count.. ll t thato theheamilies in flint whos kids have their ooood is ascending and le levels. their brains a are daged forhe re of f thr liveve call them ititist. you are telling thethose ki are yiying tget t on planeneo dadas? people are dying. they a are dyiying and t respone across the oerer sidof t the aislslis to introduce an amendment five minutes borore aring in a markup? this is serious. thishohould not be a partisan issu th is ababt our constituents and all o our les.. iowa, nebraska, broad sweats the dwdwest e drdrowng rigig now, underwater. farms, townshahat wi nevevere

recovered and never come back. and arere he and pple e ar momo concerned about helping oil companies than helping their own families i don't think so i d't ink k so this is about ourives. this is about amerin lives. it sululd nobe partin. ience should note e partan.. crisis.acing a nation and if we do not ascend to that cris, , if wdo n notscendd to the levels in which we were threatened of the great depression or threatenedn world war ii, if we do not ascend to those lelsls, ife te thehe arican puic thahawe are more willing to invt and bailoubig banks then we a willg g to iest t inur farmers and our urban families, then i don't know what we are here doing. i don't know what we are here doing. we talk about cost. we are g going to pay for isis whetheher we passed the grereenw deal or not.t.

as towns and cies g go unundeater, , wildfires ravage our mmunitie w we argoining pay. and a are eher r gog to decide if we're gngng to y to act or iwe are going to pay toe proacte. and what wknow is that prevtion -- y know, when you spenlessss mey on prevention, you can event a lot of that dama from happening in e fit place. so it is not a questiowhether we a goioingo spenenthe mone beuse i am very sad to s t the government knew that climate changeas real arartings fafar backck as 1989 when nasa was rereportg ththis ththprivate sector new way back the 1970's. so we had until arnd the time i was born addresshihis issue. wiwish idid d nohave to st much. but i'm going to turn this year and for the entire y years ofof m lifetime, we did not keke substantial investments to preparouour entire c f

what we knew wasomoming. soso now it is coming at the end. it is keke we ve o ourhole ves and don'eat healyy and we do't move anwe pursue unalthyctivities, and then at thendnd of our lives, our health ce e costare e ve high.h. have the choice to low t the costst now because i can tell yu the stst of rsuiuing greenenew deal will be far ls s thanhe co of not passing it. th respect to our brothers and sists anand ighbororthat are in agriculture, bring th t to the e tae. let's hold heangngs. let's add prisisions let's s amenththe leslatatioto acmmodate for the just transionon andor t the encocoagement of those indurieses t groro. and i would al encourage to my collgue on t oththeride of the aisle, thanks for triedo baouse, toead thth resoluon and understand erere's nothing to that effect in t legislaonon andtterly that, , tryining to invesin

thes communities and agricultural workers that they can enjoy prosperity into the next century. any guy ocasio-cortez was democratic commerce member alexandria ocasio-cortez of new york. her speech and the house committee hearing has been watched at least 13 million times. we also want to thank rhiana gunn-wright, one of the lead policy writers for the green new deal. she is the policy director for the nonprofit new consensus. when we come back, we look at the hearings that are taking place on boeing, on the interior secretary, as well as what happened with monsanto. massive case against it. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: 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 regulatory agencies under the trump administration have been captured by corporations. on wednesday, the senate's aviation subcommittee held a hearing on the two deadly crashes of boeing's new 737 max jets, where the federal aviation administration defended the agency's reliance on aircraft makers to help certify their own planes for flight. the delegation process is known as the oda program. this is faa acting head daniel elwell. >> we have very strict oversight on every participant in oda program. we make sure that they are experts in the field, that they have thehe appropriate understandnding of faa regulatis

and manuals, they have professional integririty check. everythingng. but to your point, if we had no all, an estimation would require roughly 10,000 more to do that role at the forand about $1.8 billion our certification office in the faa. nermeen: boeing has spent more than $70 million on lobbying since 2015. it also contributed to the campaigns of members of the committees that regulate it, including more than $60,000 to the 2018 reeeelection campaign f republican senator ted cruz, who is chairman of the aviation subcommittee. amy: this comes as the senate committee on energy and nanaturl resources will hold confirmation hearings today on trump's nominee to head the interior department, david bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist who has -- f former oil lolobbyist.

meantime, on center was ordered to pay m millions of dollars to man who has cancer. for more, we're joined by rob weissman, president of public citizen. on wednesday, the group delivered a poster-sized versions of bernhardt's conflict of interest cheat sheet to lawmakers who wiwill vote on his confirmation and received nearly $1 million in donations from bernhardt and his former lobbying firm. we're going to get to that in a minute. we want to start with billing. talk about the significance of this hearing. the deaths of three and 46 to 46 in two -- ththree people in two airline crashes from indonesia to ethiopia. boeing's plane founds her sleep at fault, yet the u.s. was the 7 and 8ground the max planes. what did you learn yesterday? >> we're seeing more evidence the faa is in fact working for boeing. it is staffed by boeing and its

outsources revelatory duties to boboeing. the clip you played at the top of the show, yet t the acting administrator saying, i don't understand. he calls them safety companies. ththe airplane manufufacturers. i don't understand how they may cut back on safety. it is a pretty big problem with the guy in charge of regulating safety cannot understand how the manufacturer might cut back on safety. he comes from industry. the person who runs the safety division at the faa did a stand for the lobby associationon for the aerospace companies. the new guy coming in to replace the acting administrator comes from the airline. amy: delta. >> you have this total revolving door and a total capture of the agency maybe is that is anywhere in the government. amy: talk about who stephen dickson's, the former executive who trump has picked to head the faa. >> you have different parts of the industry running the faa.

predictable.re they're not going to do their job. it is not even clear that understand our job to really do safety and regulate the compmpanies that they are overseeing. they seem to think their job is to work in collaboration with the companies to do the best they can and should promote the industry. amy: was boeing responsible for the deaths of people? how and what didid the u.s. brek the desk and what didn't the u.s. military agencies do? >> was seems to be unfolding as they redesign the 737. the design required some new kind of software, autopilot software. the soft weight may test the software made errors. the pilots were not able to overcome these errors. the planes crash. blumenthal said yesterday at the hehearing he read reports from many pilots in the u.s. who had exactly the e same problem thouh were able to overcome unlike the

pilots in the ethiopiand indonesisia. we were pretty lucucky it is ony been to crashes. 2 nermeen: how long has this plane been used? >> relatively new. they rushed it to market. relatively new technology. it is the case of why you want an independent regulator. they had competition from airbus. they work under pressure to get it to market quickly and it appears they did so cutting corners on safety. ceo you are the president founded by ralph nader. ethiopianiece died in crash. she was one of 346 people in those two crashes. feel has what do you to happen with the faa? dickson is donna done deal. ps to be approved. >> you will have to be confirmed. i knew ross grandniece.

she was delightful. what was he these revelatory issues, they are often abstract of people don't hit tension. but they failed to realize that actually failed regulation means people are one to die. when you know the person who died, it changes the whole story for you. it makes it real. so it is totally heartbreaking. at the faa, they have outsourced so much of the regulatory oversight to boeing. there is a real problem of how they can actualllly do their public duty again. you heard elwell say, we woululd need 10,000 new inspectors. i don't not about t that but thy will need more. the do not have the capacity of the agency so it will take some time to rebuild the agency. amy: let's move on to the hearing taking place today. the interior secretary and w w you have writtenen this open letter. >> out of all of the trump appointees, , this guy may be te most conflicted one coming in. he is in the running for the

most conflicted cabinet appointee. he carries around a card listing all of his conflict of interest in the companies he is not supposed to work for because he cannot keep track of it. on the other hand, and is not clear why he carries around because he does not seem to use it. he is working on behalf of the companies he used to represent, intervening and a lot of --- doubt companies that he used to work foror. nermeen: why do you think trump chose him to replace ryan zinke? mo trump administration seems to be if you have an ethics crisis because someone is forced out, why don't we replace them? thisis guy was there number two. he is very effective working for the company's keys to represent. so he was a natural tria choice. nermeen: expanding offshore oil drilling? onhe is involved in efforts offshore drilling. used to workrk for the oil and s industry.

the endangeredin species actct on behalf of clies use to work for. he has intervened and pesticide decisions that would affect the former dow company who made a $1 million contribution to the trump administration and is close with the administration. amy: is it true bernhardt ordered some furloughed workers back to her in a government shutdown to push the oil and natural gas drillining permits, offshore drilling permits in the alaska refuge? >> i don't know if he is the one who ordered it, but it occururr. amy: what t are you demanding right now? .> this is not a guy qualified you should not be approveded. amy: what about pesticides? highlys been reported toxic pesticides, the biggest study inside the departmtment of interirior, found thee use of te pesticides would jeopardize more than 1000 endangered species. the conclusion is, we have to deal with this problem. not a guy who knows pesticides, but he intervened. he swooped in and said, ok,

nevermind. we're not doing that. we're not when it take regulatory action. busineness as usual. amamy: so it benefited major .esticide makers dallas a major donor to president trump. i think they gave like $1 million to his inaugural committee. >> exactly right. amy: the latest court decision around monsanto and roundup, it's pesticide? >> a huge decision in a case brought by a man who has cancer, still living with cancer. alleging it was caused by roundup. the jury came in and said, yes, it caused it and gave huge damages not just for the disease he is been a flickr with, but punitive damages to punish monsanto for what the jury believed was covering up of the evidence of the cancer-causing issues for many, many years. amy: will this award happen? >> we don't know. the company will certainly

appeal the decision. it was designated by the judge as a bellwether case because there are so many cases in line. the judge is saying, we want to see how the first few trials go in and we will make a decision on how to look at the rest of the cases. it will strengthen the hand of the other people who have claims to negotiate a fair settlement. amy: rob weissman, thank you for being with us president of , public citizen. when we come back, "biased: uncovering the hidden prejudice that shapes what we see, think, and do." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we end the show with the news out of virginia, where neo-nazi james alex fields pleaded guilty wednesday to 29 counts of hate crimes in a federal court for plowing his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters in charlottesville in august of 2017. as part of the deal, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. last d december, a virgiginia jy sentenced d fields to life in prison for his violent act, which killed anti-fascist protester heather heyer and injured 28 others at a counter-protest of the white supremacist unite the right rally. amy: we turn now to a new book that addresses the tragic events in charlottesville, as well as the rising number of race-based mass shootings, hate crimes, and police shootings of unarmed men in the past several years. it also looks at cases of discrimination against african-americans for simply sitting in coffee shops or trying to vacation in airbnb-hosted homes. "biased: uncovering the hidden

prejudice that shapes what we see, think, and do" explains how -- examines how implicit bias impacts everything from hate crimes to microaggressions in the workplace, school, and community, and what we can do about it. the book's author professor jennifer eberhardt writes -- "in charlottesville, ripped through the pact we've made to pretend that blatant bigotry is a relic of the past. in truth, bias has been biding its time in an implicit world -- in a place where we need not acknowledge it to ourselves or to others, even as it touches our soul and drives our behavior." we're joined now by jennifer eberhardt, professor of psychology at stanford and a recipient of a 2014 macarthur genius grant. welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. congratulations on the release of your book this week. spearheadedson, who the legacy museum where we just

went in montgomery, alabama, called your book groundbreaking. the subtitle "uncovering the hidden prejudice that shapes and do.think, talk about what you. as you watch what unfolded at the university of virginia. >> so this unite the right rally was the largest public gathering of white supremacist in a generation. i think it took a lot of people by surprise. they were there to protest the removal of a statue of robert e lee. they were there to start a race war according to them. there were counterprotesters there who showed up to try to protect the city and protect their values.

lots of clashes during that rally. a lot of -- i think concern about the role of the police with that and not standing back and not intervening as people were being beaten and taunted and so forth. i don't know, it led to a lot of people in the city of charlottesville and on the uva campus to think about how this happened and why it happened and why was this the ground zero for that movement. tie in: how does that such explicit manifest of racism with your idea of unconscious, implicit bias? --i think it ties -- i think well, a couple of things. i think people think a lot about bigotry rising up when we have

economic insecurity or instability. but there is research showing it is not just that. there's also the changing racial demographics in this country. that makes people fearful. that makes them nervous. there is research by jennifer richerson and maureen craig showing just reminding white americans that changing racial dynamic or the changing racial landscape can leave them to express more prejudice against peopople of color to feelel like discrimination against whites is on the rise. and also to endorse more politically conservative views and policicies. so it is not just the economic issue where we get this move toward more explicit bias or old-fashioned racism, it is also this concern about losing your

presence and your status in society. amy: president trump did not tweet about fields yesterday pleading guilty to a hate crime. but this morning he did tweet. he tweeted -- "fbi & doj to review the outrageous jussie smollett case in chicago. it is an embarrassment to our nation!" this has captured the media over the chicago days, prosecutors dropping the 16 felony charges againstst jussi smollett for arranging a hate crime against him -- that is what they charged him with. he did some community service, , andited his $10,0000 bond they have dropped all of the charges. so trump tweeted about this, but on this issue of the white supremacist killer, he did not say a word. can you make a segue from one to the other and what your thoughts

are on jussie smollett? >> as a social scientist, i am caseooking at an isolated and trying to make claims about that one way or the other. i think that case is still unfolding, so i'm not sure how all of that will end up. but what i could say is that we matterst our leadership in terms of people's willingness to express a bias. i think also the social norms matter. there's a lot of research on that, actually. so when social norms shift so we are becoming sort of less a gala -- it givest leads those individuals licensed to express more bias. it i is not just about a choicee are making as individuals to be biased or not. it is also about the social

climate. we are social beings. we are sensitive to whatat the social clilimate is. to thehe extent the social clime is moving away from being egalitarian, that can feed our bias. and that can lead implicit biases to become explicit because there's a context for that. there's a way in which that is welcomed. those social norms can lead us to actually become more thoseice and to act on prejudices. nermeen: can you explain what goes into constituting implicit bias? >> implicit bias can be defined as the believe in the feelings that we have about social groups that can influence our decision-making and our actions, even when we are unaware of it. existsort of bias that despite how we see ourselves as egalitarian's or bias that can

exist despite our intentions and her motivations to act otherwise. amy: you begin your book with the story of your five year old son. tell us about what happened. >> we were on a plane together and he is five and he is looking around and just really excited about being on an airplane with mom. he is checking everybody out. he sees this guy says, hey, that guy looks like daddy. i look at the guy -- first of all, he doesn't look anything at all like daddy. it turns out he was the only black guy on the plane. i'm thinking, ok, my son obviously thinks all black people look alike so i'm going to try to have a conversation with him about that. but before i could have that meversation, he looks up at and says that "i hope he does not rob the plane." i said, what? what did you say? he said it again, "i hope he

does not rob the plane." i said, everett, what would you say that? you know, daddy would not rob a plane. he said, google yeah, yeah, i know." i said, why would you say that? he looks at me with ththis realy sad face and he said, "i don't know why i said that. i don't know why i was thinking that." amy: you later talk about your son being a target of racial bias. >> yeah, i do. that five-year-old is now 17. he is growing into a man, a young man. himle sort of experience --h the same kind of sort of his presence triggers the same kinds of thoughts. he is becoming aware of that over time and aware he could be seen as a threat in the eyes of others. nermeen: is there any way to

overcome implicit eyes? >> well, you know, it is not something we can just overcome and get rid of completely, and that is something i write about in the book "bias" that we keep thinking we will get to the day when we will be done with this, we don't have to worry about it. and the fact is, we have to be sort of constantly vigilant around it. so even when we can push it down with our laws and we can push it down with our social norms and we can be motivatat to work o on it, it is something that we have to be vigilant about all the time because it can spring up again. the social conditions can allow it to surface again. so there are some situations that really sortrt of promotee s more than others. a social scientist, we know a lot about those situations to the extentnt we can manage those better,ns, the

basically. amy: i don't need you to tell me you're going to vote for in 2020, but i want you to comment beto.nie,biden, they are called the b boys. they are getting much more attention, these four white men. your thoughts? what does the media need to learn? we have 30 seconds. >> i think maybe we can have a discussion about who people think of as leaders, sort of who are we associating with leaders, and leadership tends to be associated with men and leadership tends to be associated with people who are quite and powerful -- white and powerful to the extent you have

inconsistency there between what a person looks like and was social group they belong to and what they are trying to do. that is hard for us to wrap our minds around. amy: we will leave it there but do part two and put it online democracynow.org at. jennifer eberhardt professor of , psychology at stanford and a

"earth focus," fracking, a memethod of getting oil at a rock, is raising concererns worldwide. coming up on "earth focus." >> the caribbean and does itit stretches out across the third of south africa's land area.a. mountains separate the land in two different habitats harboring

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