07/17/19 07/17/19 >[captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this i is democracy now! >> mayor de blasio, do your job. fire these officers. i am calling for them to be fired today. today. you don't have to wait for anything else. you see the doj, they failed us. so don't you come forward and your job. amy: protest the abrupt after federal prosecutors say they will not bring civil rights charges against daniel pantaleo,

the new york city police officer implicated the death of eric garner, an african-american father of six killed when patnaleo wrestled him to the ground and applied a fatal chokehold as garner said, "i can't breathe," 11 times. we will get reaction from garner's mother and new york city public advocate jumaane williams. then, as online shoppers around the country flock to amazon's mega-sale prime day this week, the retatail giant faces growing outrage over its unsafe working condititions and colollaboration immigration enforcement. >> we're doing this because it is prime day. amy: we will speak with activists about amazon's business practices and working conditions. and then to the heiress of the disney fortune, who is once again speaking out about the

wage gap or disney workers after she went to them and spoke to workers there. >> disney brand is an emotional one, a moral one, i would even say it is a brand that suggests love will step i have spoken out about disney because i am in a unique place to do so and because disney is uniquely placed in american lives. those moral undertones and all of that love need to be put too constrtructive use because thiss a moral issue. amy: all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the house of representatives passed a resolution condemning president trump's racist tweets about four progressive congresswomen of color, telling them to go back to the crime infested place from which they came. four republicans, as well as the recently independent congressmember justin amash, joined with democrats to approve

the resolution. trump's tweets were aimed at congressmembers ayanna pressley, alexandria ocasio-cortez, rashida tlaib, and ilhan omar -- all of whom are u.s. citizens. one, a political refugee. this is house speaker nancy pelosi. >> thehese comments from the whe house are disgraceful and disgusting, and the comments are racist. how shameful to hear and continue to defend those e word, words we have heardrd him r rept nott only y about our members, t about countlesess others. our caucus will continue to forcefully respond to those attacks on our members. amy: congressmembers stopped short of censuring trump, though, a measure pushed by tennessee congressmember steve cohen. the house debate temporarily came to a halt after nancy pelosi delivered her remarks come as republican said her description of trump's words as disgraceful, disgusting, and

racist were out of order. the house and had to vote in favor of keeping her remarks on the congressional record. meanwhile, texas congressmember al green introduced articles of impeachment against president trump tuesday, forcing the house to take up the measure later this week. green's resolution does not guarantee a house vote as lawmakers could decide to table, or even kill the resolution. the issue of impeachment has divided democratic lawmakers with a number of outspoken legislators repeatedly calling for the move. house speaker nancy pelosi, however, has resisted those calls, focusing instead on congressional investigations. in may, she said impeaching trump was too divisive and not worth it. white house counselor kellyanne conway, meanwhile, defended trump's racist tweets. when a reporter asked her abouot it, she responded by asking him his ethnicity. >> if the president was not

telling these four congresswomen to return to their supposed countries of origin, to which countries was he referring? >> what is your ethnicity? >> uh, why is that relevant? >> because i'm asking a question. i have from ireland and italy. >> my own ethnicity is not relelevant. >> it is. amy: that question was posed by white house reporter andrew feinberg. he refused to answer c conway's question. a coalition of national rights groups filed a lawsuit tuesday seeking to block a new trump order that would bar asylum seekers who pass through another country before reaching the u.s. from applying for asylum. the aclu, the southern poverty law center, and center for constitutional rights are among those seeking an immediate injunction. the rule was set to go into effect tuesday but didn't, as it faces legal challenges.

lee gelernt of the aclu called the new rule "the trump administration's most extreme run at an asylum ban yet" and said that it "clearly violates domestic and international law." on tuesday, the u.n. refugee office condemned the plan, saying it puts vulnerable people at increased risk. a separate suit by two immigrants' rights groups was filed later tuesday, arguing the rule violates the immigration and nationality act and disrupts their ability to carry out their work, forcing them to drastically divert or redesign their programs. the white new york police officer who killed unarmed african-american father eric garner in 2014 will not face federal charges. officer daniel pantaleo kept garner in an illegal chokehold even as he gasped, "i can't breathe," 11 times. this is garner's mother gwen carr speaking at a press conference yesterday, directly addressing new york city mayor bill de blasio.

>> you said you care about the new york citizens? come forward. show your self as a mayor. the mayor that you was elected to be. because the garner family is not satisfied with what you have done. my son is dead. my granddaughter is dead. is, sorry, young have my condolences go well, keep your condolences and do the right things. deblasio, you and your administration, step up.p. get those police officers off the force today. amy: a senior justice department official said attorney general william barr made the call on eric garner's case, overruling officials from the civil rights division who wanted to charge pantaleo. we'll have more on this after headlines. in calalifornia, former r peruvn president alejandro toledo wasas arrested tuesday under an extradition order.

he is facing corruption charges back in peru, where he is accused of receiving $20 million from the brazilian construction company odebrecht in exchange for helping them win public works projects. toledo, who was s president frfm 2001 to 2006, has denied the charges. another former peruvian president, alan garcia, died by suicide in after shooting april himself as police arrived at his home in lima to arrest him on bribery and corruption charges, also related to the odebrecht bribery scandal. press freedom groups are calling for the release of independent who wasournalist arrested earlier this month by yemeni security forces will stop at the time of his arrest, he was reported dish reporting and interviewing protesters who were injured by forces belonging to the saudi led coalition. he was reportedly then handed over to saudi forces. the committee to protect journalists says journalists are

known to have been imprisoned them a threatened, and detained by all parties to the war in yemen. planned parenthood has removed its president lena win after less than a year on the job. her ouster came after disagreements between dr. wen and planned parenthood's board over the direction of the organization as the trump administration and republicans mount harsh restrictions challenges to reproductive rights, including state abortion bans. the board reportedly had disagreements over wen's framing of abortion. illinois said they will stop accepting federal funds to avoid having to comply with a trump ban on federally-funded clinics providing abortion referrals. the rule went into effect this week as it's being challenged in the courts. california senator 2020 candidate senator kamala harris

introduced a bill, a plan she says will lower prescription drug costs and crack down on pharmaceutical companies for charging exorbitant prices. under the proposal, the government would be able to set fair prices for drugs based on their costs in other marketsnd momo affordable drugs could be imported from m other countries. mamanufacturers s would suffer penalties if they raisise their prices excessively andnd 100% of eir profits would also b be taxed d if they prescribe a medication above a setet price. earlier in the week, 2020 presidential hopeful joe biden announced his health care plan, which builds on obamacare by addiding a p public optition, rr than supporting medicare for all, like many of his more progressive primary opponents. including senators harris, bernie sanders, and elizabeth warren. biden's plan would also allow medicare to negotiate with drug companies to lower costs and expand medicaid. his proposal says it would insure an estimated 97% of americans, to which the sanders

campaign responded that leaves nearly 10 million peoplele ununinsured. it would also leave tens of millions under-insured and saddled with high co-pays and deductibles according to an analalysis of the proposal by te sanders campaign. louisiana, a suspect has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder of historian and civil rights activist sadie roberts-joseph. roberts-joseph's dead body was found in her car over the weekend. 38-year-old ronn jermaine bell was roberts-joseph's tenant. he was reportedly late on his rent payments, though police say they are still determining a motive. roberts-joseph was considered a local icon in baton rouge, where she founded the odell s. williams now and then african american museum and hosted the annual celebration of juneteenth, which she fought to have recognized as a state and national holiday. baton rouge mayor weston broome called her a standout matriarch of baton rouge and added --

"we will make her legacy a priority here in baton rouge and east baton rouge parish." a federal magistrate judge said the founder and editor of the neo-nazi website the daily stormer should be ordered to pay over $14 million to a montana woman who was the target of an anti-semitic troll-storm. the daily stormer publisher, andrew anglin, mounted an online intimidation campaign in 2016 against tanya gersh, a jewish real estate agent from the resort town of whitefish. in the following months, gersh and her family received hundreds of hate-filled messages, forcing them to temporarily leave their home. a virginia state judge sentenced james fields to life in prison plus 419 years for plowing his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters in charlottesville at a counter-protest of the white supremacist unite the right rally in 2017. he killed 32 year-old activist

heather heyer in the attack. this comes on top of last month's sentence to life in prison on federal hate crime charges for the 22 year-old, self-described neo-nazi. the judge in james fields' state case told him, "you deserve the sentence the jury gave. what you did was an act of terror." retired supreme court justice john paul stevens has died at the age of 99. stevens was appointed to the court in 1975 by president gerald ford. although a moderate republican, stevens led the liberal wing of the court for decades and is considered a hugely influential justice who authored key decisions on cases around presidential powers, national security, and campaign financing, among other issues. in his dissent in 2000's bush v. gore, he wrote -- "although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's presidential election, the identity of the loser is clear. it is the nation's confidence in the judge as impartial guardian of the rule of law."

at the height of president geororge w. bush''s war onon te, he wrorote the decisision grantg guantanamo prisoners legal rights and access to federal court. in his dissent for citizens united versus federal election commission, he wrote the decision "threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the nation." he said at the end of his tenure on the court his one regret was his 1976 vote upholding a texas capital punishment statute that revived the death penalty. stevens later opposed most death penalty sentences. he retired from the court in as the second longest-standing 2010 justice. and 10 protesters were arrested inside the ice headquarters in washington, d.c., tuesday after staging a sit-in at the agency's building. thousands more blocked entrances to the building and nearby roads for hours. the protests were organized by the jewish-led never again action and the immigration justice group movimiento cosecha. the activists are demanding the government shut down all immigration jails, abolish ice,

and provide an immediate path to citizenship for undocumented people. similar protests took place in other u.s. cities including los angeles philadelphia, and , boston. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. it was five years ago today eric garner, an african-american father of six, was killed when a white new york city police officer wrestled him to the ground, and him down, and applied a fatal chokehold while garner said "i can't breathe" 11 times. the incident was captured on a cell phone video and spurred mass protests. cook's put your hands behind her head. >> i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. >> once again, police beating up

on people. >> back up. juan: on tuesday, federal prosecutors announced they will not bring civil rights charges against daniel pantaleo, the new york city police officer implicated in garner's death. the move reportedly came after attorney general william barr ordered that the case be dropped. u.s. attorney richard donoghue announunced the decision tuesda. >> weekend lightweight officer pantaleo's actions in light of his training and experience, mr. garner size, weight, and actions to resist arrest, and the duration and escalating nature of the interaction. we determined that there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that pantaleo acted in willful violation of federal law. conclude therewe is insufficient evidence to bring a federal cririminal chare against officer pantaleo for his

role in the untimely death of mr. garner. amy: earlier this year, a medical examiner testified that it was t the chokehold that triggered an asthma attack that led to garner's death, which was ruled a homicide. the new york police department banned the use of chokeholds in 1993 after it was linked to a rise in deaths. garner family member met with federal officials shortly before the announcement. this is garner's daughter emerald snipes speaking outside the u.s. attorney's office i in brbrooklyn. >> i statandere in thehe spiritf my sisteterho fought for justice until r r dying y fofor fathth, stananding outsidede protestingng. for thisd investigation. they did not do their job. the department of justice, they did not do their job. amy: during a rally at city hall, eric garner's mother gwen carr called on new york city mayor bill de blasio to fire officer pantaleo, who remains on the police force and earns a salary of more than $100,000.

>> and doj, you have not heard the last from us. be thew was supposed to end of the statue of limitations. but limit tell you something, there is no statute of limitation on murder. that is what i read in the law books and that murder -- there is no statute of limitations. so we are going after you, pantaleo. mayor de blasio, do your job. fire these officers. i'm calling for them to be fired today. today. you don't have to wait for anything else. you see the doj? they failed us. so now you come forward and your job. you said you cared about the newark citizens? come forward. show your self as a mayor, the mayor you was elected to be. because the garner family is not satisfied with what you have done. my son is dead. my granddaughter is dead.

sorry, you're saying is, yet my condolence? well, keep your condolences and do the right thing. the blasio, you and your administration, step up. get those police officers off the force today. today i'm asking for them to be fired. we don't want to wait any longer. you have the power, so assert your power. [applause] >> no justice! >> no peace!. amy: we hoped we would be joined by gwen carr, but she will be of to be with us. we are joined by jumaane williams, public advocate for new york city. welcome back to democracy now! to this decision that apparently was made by the attorney general of the united states himself, william barr?

>> i do want to be clear what we're talking about. all we're talking about is firing this and from the police force. we're not talking about her, look and action or civil rights violations. someone who murdered someone on camera and all we have left is at least fire him from the police department. obviously, the doj made the wrong decision, but i do have to say they had the highest word in. and if we can't get mayor de blasio, self-described progressive who is running for president come to fire pantaleo, how do you expect donald trump's duty to bring civil rights violations against him to go in termsaane williams, of the justice department decision, because the attorney and theapparently ruled prosecutors -- some of the prosecutors, because according to "the new york times" there was conflict between the prosecutors and the justice department as to whether they could bring the case -- that

they were going to have trouble proving and intent on the part of pantaleo to actually harm eric garner. but the last time a police officer was convicted of a murder or a violating civil rights was back in 1998 when phrases liberty was convicted during the clinton years for illegal chokehold that led to the death of anthony baez. back in the hours no video. there was no video to show what happened and so there is clearly a precedent for this kind of case being brought andwon. i'm wondering what you think about this reported differences between justice department officials about how to handle this case? >> this is two presidents anand three attorney general's and none have brought charges. i do think they were wrong and they could have. with that said, i don't want to

absolve the doj but i don't want to skip past where we are now lost up and by the way, during that time, that officer was fired from the police department by mayor rudolph giuliani. and so now we have mayor giuliani who can fire an officer and mayor bill de blasio, self-described progressive who is running around saying he wants to do for the nation what he has done for new york city, still has daniel pantaleo on the force. amy: we call the mayor's office and did not get response back. talk about that. what do demand he do? i am sure you have had many discussions with mayor de blasio. you're the public advocate and he is the mayor. what does he tell you? >> i am at a loss for words because we have a man who was elected on police reform issues, on the backs of stories and blood of black and brown new yorkers saying they will make changes in the police department. and there have been.

but were there hasn't been has been transparency and accountability. amy: let's go to mayor de blasio. last month just after the new york lose department disciplinary hearing concluded for daniel pantaleo, new york mayor billll deblasio appepearen wnyc radio's bill lehrer show. >> the nypd is finishing the process now, final judgment will be delivered soon. and that will be the closure point, at least from the perspective of the city of new york. at this whole thing is been so painful for all of us in a most especially for this family. i wish the department of justice had done their job you the way and made a decision. >> commissioner o'neill will have to make a decision about if and how to discipline officer pantaleo. with all of the evidence in now, what do you think should be done? if the commissioner doesn't fire him, should you? >> i'm not going to entertain hypotheticals and i am not going , in the middle of the due process procedure, i'm not going

to in any way shape or form be disrespectful of that process. to everyonethis listening, including many people like me who are progressives, we have to always respect to process. we all want due process for ourselves and we need it for everyone. that is what is happening now. the ultimate decision will go to the police commissioner. i think he is someone who'll be very, very mindful and will think in terms of fairness and justice, as i have seen him do many times. >> are you saying you won't overrule -- >> respectfully, this is very serious stuff. this is a legal proceeding. i know you are a good journalist, but you have to understand, this is serious stuff. i'm not commenting on due process. lehrerhat was brian interviewing mayor bill de blasio on the issue of the eric garner case. i want to ask you, jumaane williams, what about the mayor's argument he is waiting for the

due process procedure, which includes a departmental trial, which pantaleo has gone through and is awaiting a decision of the judge in that d departmental hearing to decide what steps to take? >> i get angry or the more i -- he should no longer mention eric's name or speak about this. he is have the authority to fire daniel pantaleo. he has had the authority to at least suspend him. he h has had the authority to do something. he has misled the public for so long thing the doj asked him not to proceed. that was not the truth. the doj to look family and us there is nothing stopping them. in fact, they started their own trial before the doj. this is completely in the mayor's wheelhouse. this has been -- this is all this mayor. he has led down black and brown

new yorkers and all new yorkers who believe in justice when it comes to police doing wrong. he has done this. this is fully in his wheelhouse. anything else is bs. he needs toown this and do right by this family. juan: you as a public advocate in the unlikely case bill de blasio is successful in his run for president, you would step in as the mayor, right? successor.signated so you would deaf know then admittedly fire pantaleo if you ended up becoming mayor? r. kelly, really people who believe daniel pantaleo should not be fired is -- apparently, the only people who believe daniel pantaleo should not be fired. books i want to turn to richard donoghue speaking during a news conference on tuesday as he announced the federal government would not charge officerer dann know pennzoil in them that the eric garner. >> thororoughly consider this ce i made a decision himself and that is the decision of the

department. officer pantaleo was not engaged in a chokehold on mr. garner when he said he could not breathe. another officer pantaleo nor any other officer applied a chokehold to mr. garner after he first saiaid he could not brere. the video shows the officers initial actions were in accordance with established police tactics and procedures with the situation deteriorated as it progressed. at the end of the day, however, the video and the other evidence gathered in the investigation does not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that officer pantaleo acted willfully in violation of federal law. i offer my sincere condolences as well as condolences of attorney general barr and the entire department to the family for this tragic loss. amy: that is you is attorney richard donoghue explaining why

they were not bringing civil rights charges against officer pantaleo. as you listen to this, jumaane said that eric garner did not say "i can'tt breathe" while he was in a chokehold, as we all watched this video. let me remind people, the video was taken by a friend of eric garner who was right by the incident that was taking place. he just flipped open his cell phone. his name was ramsey orta. and d he just kept on filming as the police demanded he stop filming. that is what we know what to lace. >> byy the way, he is the only one who has seen inside a jail cell since this happened, the person who filmed this. amy: he is currently in solitary confinement. >> so you just admitted there was a chokehold, and there was

-- i don't know what that means. the illegal chokehold that precipitated the death of a man by police officer. there is no reason there was a chokehold. there was no one in danger. we're still looking for the cigarettes that apparently he was selling. nothing about this case -- i'm at a loss of words five years later. when a family -- it was donna body cam issue. everybody is clear in what we saw, a man choked to death by police officer. everyone agrees something wrong happened. everyone has given condolences, but nobody is saying somebody should be held accountable who has the power to do so. and that is the frustration. i expected the doj to do this. it is unfortunate. but here in the city, we have the power to provide sums: of justice -- semblance of justice. and that lies with the mayor. amy: is anything you as the public advocate, can you see

yourself doing anything? thee can put resolutions in city council and continue to put the pressure on, which we will. activists, gwen carr, the garner family to put pressure. we're not going to let up on this. we will continue to remind everyone across the nation this may or is running for r presidet is stilliel pantaleo on the force. amy: it was five years ago today that eric garner was killed in a chokehold as he went down in staten island, being held by daniel pantaleo. jumaane williams is public advocate for new york city. there are protests and vigils planned for today. when we come back, we will look at what is happening at amazon. there was testimony in congress and there were protests all over the world. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: while online shoppers around the country flocked to amazon's mega-sale prime day this week, the retail giant faced growing outrage from protesters, workers, and lawmakers for its unsafe working conditions, collaboration with immigration and customs

enforcement, and it's a competitive business practices. in minnesota, workers at an amazon warehouse -- many of whom are immigrgrants from east afrin nations -- walked out for a six-hour strike and demanded the company implement betterer workg conditions and corporate responsibility policies. in new york, activists delivered the petition to the home of amazon ceo jeff bezos. demonstrators in seattttle delivered a petition with over 270,000 signatures to amazon headquarters, calling out its exploitation of workers and demanding it stop working with ice. amazon has contracted with u.s. government agencies including ice d develop f facial recognition softwaware which is beining pitched as a tool for targeting imimmigrants.. this is activist maru mora villalpando. >> we're doing this because it is prime day it willll people

choose who to give their money to post juan: in europe, workers in germany, britain, spain, and poland are also taking part in protests this week, calling for fair wages and working conditions. amy: while the strike against amazon unfolded, lawmakers, including senator bernie sanders and representative ilhan omar, co-signed a letter to the occupational safety and health administration demanding a full investigation into amazon's workplace conditions on tuesday. the letter cited reports of amazon workers facing severe physical and mental distress while on the job, often unable to take water or bathroom breaks while working in unsafe conditions. it quoted one worker who called amazon a 21st century sweatshop and multiple others who reported contemplating suicide due to the work. the lawmakers write -- "owing to the breadth and severity of past violations as well as mounting public revelations of brutal and hazardous working conditions, we request that osha launch a

thorough and comprehensive investigation into the workplace conditions at all of amazon's warehouses. no employee, especially those who work for the wealthiest person in the world, should be forced to work in unsafe conditions." also tuesday, the house judiciary committee's antitrust panel challenged an amazon executive on allegations that the company competes against its own sellers. the european union's competition commission is also launched an antitrust investigation into amazon. for more on the fight against amazon, we're joined now by two guests. here in new york, we're joined by angeles solis, lead organizer on the workplace justice team at make the road new york. she helps s lead the group's beyond amazon coalition and was -- and joining us from portland, maine, stacy mitchell who testified about amazon on tuesday before a house judiciary subcommittee. she is the co-director of the institute for local self-reliance and author of "big-box swindle: the true cost of mega-retailers and the fight for america's independent businesses."

last year, stacy mitchell wrote a cover story for the nation titled, "amazon doesn't just want to dominate the market -- it wants to become the market." we welcome you both to democracy now! talk about as prime day is offered all over the world and explain what that is, what people did on the ground. >> prime day is essentially amazon's black friday in the middle of the summer. it is a made up holiday to sesel products that many of us don't need. however,r, our organizing againt prime day started even before the 15th and 16th. on july 1111, amazon had the in oral summit in new york city -- annual summit in new york city. workshops, group or class of amazon and employees gathered. with over 500 immigrant community workers demonstrating outside. over 30 disruptors inside disrupting begin to the vice president of amazon, demanding

they cut their ties with ice and ask they respect workers. juan: what about the working conditions at some of these amazon or most of these amazon facilities. i remember more than a year ago some of my students at rutgers did an investigation on amazon. they filed freedom of information request from osha about workplace injuries. they got back hundreds of pages, most of it redacted, with amazon claim it was part of their company protected secrets that some of the information cannot bebe let out. yet hehe repeatedly receieived s over and over from osha. what about these working conditions? >> amazon will do their best to silence and divide workers speaking out. pictures like to show of employees dancing around.

though stories do not match up with the stories of those coming through h our doors, thosese who haveve shared complains of chroc nosebleeds from cutting up cardboard boxes and dust getting in their noses. stories of workers who have been interrogated by management asking what they did for 72 seconds when they slowed it down. stories of workers who have faced repeated harassment, repeated discrimination, andd have been made to feel like they are machines and not humans working in a warehouse. juan: this issue the company trumpets it is paying $15 an hour. most people don't realize there are a lot of temporary workers at amazon. for-time employees, but every full-time employee, there's a temporary worker. are the sellers the same? many are contracted by other labor suppliers. are.azon will claim they the reality is they strategically subcontract not just in the fulfillment distribution centers, but across

the supply chain. amazon has a record of employees. recor they may claim $15 an hour, but that often is not enough. let's talk about a fair wage. we're talking about the richest man on the planet. prime day is estimated to make $5.8 billion in sales. the stories of the workers in our offices are one of brutal conditions and they see nothing in return. they see no fruits of that labor, fruits of that coming into their pockets. amy: this is part of a veoeo the sasands campmpgn reased tuesy y on ttterer. >> let me brieflrerelateo o you a a few thehe sries t tt amazon employees have tolusus. from forward,yee texas, said i s homele,

slping in e parkinlot after i no longer could foford rentnt. >>aybe thaisis whi a amazois exrimentntg with drugs. fromd amazon worker senator d use ofhe fuillment nters arnot signed for human beings in mind if aonone waed t to experience what aururn ofhe 20th century ameran sweatshop might have look, sound, fl like, they g looko o furtr than azon.n. >> aually ga myself herni tryi to go to the bathroom faster within one minute, 30 sends,s, bausese or onee miminu, 30 seconds, it counts against yo

amy: so that is a video that bernie sanders, senator and presidential candidate, released. amazon has something like around the world 575,000 workers, over 200,000 workers here in the united states. as we hear about workplace conditions come also this issue of cooperation with ice. and you talk about amazon's use of facial recognition software? >> yes. recently, amazon has been marketing to federal agencies like ice the use of the recognition technology. amy: their brand-name. >> this technology is absolutely concerning to us. immigranterous to communities and communities of color. it has a higher rate on

non-gender conforming individuals and people of color. this technology can identify up to 500 people in a photo or video. in the hands of ice and cbp, this is the type of technology trump wants to explain that cap forms of imprisonment, deportation, and even deaths of immigrant children in ice detention camps and cbp pulling facilities and conditions on our border. amazon is enabling the customs andf ice, border patrol and dhs and perpetuating the harm on immigrant committees and our country. it is not just the facial recognition software we have to be worried about. amazon web services host all of the technology infrastructure for number of c companies that carry out their operatitions for ice and dhs and cbp. withthout amazon web serervices, they cannot rip families apart, cannot identify and collect and build profiles of immigrants that they will live in

ultimately harm into port. juan: stacy mitchell, you testified at amazon on tuesday before the house judiciary subcommittee on antitrust commercial and a ministry to the law. your the codirector of the institute for local self-reliance and author of "big-box swindle: the true cost of mega-retailers and the fight for america's independent businesses." what did you tell congress? >> i talked about how amazon's market power has become really quite overwhelming. takinge increasingly control of the entire consumer goods economy. they captuture one out of every two dollars that americansns now spend online and online sales are booming. perhaps the bigger measure of amazon's market power is that more than half of all shoppers when they want to buy y somethig online are nowow starting direcy on amazon. what that means is if you are any other country -- company in the economy that makes or sells a consumer product, increasingly

you have to be on amazon's platform in order to reach the market. that is an incredible amount of structural power in our economy and i think just more broadly speaking, as amazon and masses that power and wealth thomas it is really working as a kind of undertow on local economies across the country. it is affecting the ability of people to earn a living. 20 years ago, people used to complain about walmart because as walmarts were being built all across america, they were supposedly destroying the local mom-and-pop store. but you could at least say for walmart they employ one point finally people in the u.s. joint amazon, is bigger, much bigger than walmart today, but only employing 200,000 people. what is amazon's effect on small businesses and even big retailers now across the country? not bigger than walmart yet.

they're certainly more dominant online. there is a distinction that is important. i think walmart is a very concerning company bececause off its market dominance, particularly in the grocery sector and thehe effect itit is haviving a local communities. w we essentially shelved our antitrust laws. we used to -- antitrust was a tool of democrcracy of keeeeping power dispersed. we basically put thohose laws sn the e shelf and stopped enforcrg them.. walmart grew up in that time period. it owes its dominance partly to ththat. the distinction with amazon is walmart dominates the regional market, but amazon is essentially infrastructure for the economy. walmart be a must as if came into your community and not only built this giant store on the edge of town, but also bought up all of your main street we still -- retail spaces, bought the malls, basically could dictctate which businesses could be in the

spaceses, what t they could sel, which once were going g to succeed. that is essentially what is going on online now. amazon callsls the shots. sll of these other retailer and merchants i depend on it to reach the market are sububct to it. itit can change the rules, close accounts, can favor its own mine all of the data to find out what is selling well and bring it into its own inventntory and then get -- awad itself the top basement in the search results. this is no longer a market in the sense of a market, it is a private arena governed by the single company. that gets the anti-competitive issue that was the subject of the hearing yesterday. amy: on tuesday, democratic congressmember david cicilline of rhode island questioned the associate general counsel at amazon, nate sutton. oftry to give you an example notch printer who create a better set of headphones.

sells it on amazon. great for her and great for amazon because the more people to become amazon prime customers to buy this product. instead of seeing the fruits of her success, this hard-working rhode island are discovers amazon has rolled out a direct replica of her product. amazon gives itself top billing and to moats the entrepreneur to page through results, which most people will never see. how would anyone in light of that sequence of events, how would any entrepreneur invest in this kind of environment where that can happen, where there is no assurance it won't? >> our incentive is doubt ththe seller succeeded. they have many options. we apply the same criteria to vote and we do not use their individual data when we're making decisions to launch private brands. nate sutton answering the questions of the rhode island congress membeber david cicilll. stacy y mitchell, urur response? >> it isis simply not true that

merchants have other options. amazon, one out of every two dollars spent online, and huge of shopping search. the next one is ebay at about 6%. from there.ops off i interviewed lots of sellers and the consnsistently tell me amazon is the main deal. there's really nowowhere else. and inincreasingly, more and moe over time, particucularly as pre emerson's grow, alexa becomes the voice interface for a lot of homes, people are dedefaulting more and more to amazonon this is a different sort of company. this is an infrastructure company like a railroad or telephohone system. that requires a different kind of obligation, different set of rules that need to go along with that. juan: i i want to ask you about that. the comparison to the railroad. should part of the legislative reform be to consider them a common carrier, where they could

not necessarily discriminate by one particular company whose product ththey cararry versus ananother? >> that't's right. i believeve that is one of the ideas in the mix here is ththate need to have a nondiscrimination standard, a common carrier standard for amazon so that all buyers and sellers in that marketplace are treated the same. it is not just sellers, it is also consumers. we c could face a a potentiafute inin whihich amazon price didiscriminanates. that is itit uses the dadata its on a all of usus to charge one peperson m more than a another . we don't think it is doing it yet, but that is something that could happen. we do need these nondiscrimination rules. i will say that because of the overwhelming conflict of interest here that amazon is competing directly with the companies that depend on its business. itit is alsoso a manufacturer rf goods. it is a reretailer of goods.s. that fundantntal conflict,

combined with the fact the algorithms are so opaque and amamazon hasas a godlike view ol of the d data come all of ee transactns t that are e going o, it can use that in all sorts of also need to we separate amazon. we need to calall for a structul separation of this company, which is what we did with the railroads. in the early days s of the railroad, bigg industrialists like rockefeller who was famous for the monopoly he amassed in oil, standard oil, he did that in part because he got control of the rails and used the rail lines. he would keep his competing oil companies off those lines or would charge them more. that is how he came to dominate the oil industry. congress passed a law that's it if you own a railroad, you cannot also be engaged in lines of businesess that c compe with the businesses that rely on that. essentially, a breakup. that is what we need with amazon. amy: angeles solis, what are you calling for? >> we are calling for amazon to

drop all of their contracts, all of the relationships come all of , cbp, and to ice department of homeland security. we're calling for ice to bargain , respect workers, s slow down n ththese grueling quouotas, and really l listen to the immigrans and community's are calling for amazon to be a better neighbor to our communities and not a corporate monopoly that is threatening our economy, democracy, and the livelihoods of our families. amy: we want to thank you for being with us. angeles solis is make the road new york. stacy mitchell testified about amazon on tuesday before the house judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, commercial, and administrative law. codirector of the institute for local self-reliance. in portland, maine. author of "big-box swindle: the true cost of mega-retailers and the fight for america's independent businesses." whenen we come back, we will spk with the disney heiress. she went to disneyland and spoke was workers there and

appalled by what she saw. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: "the happiest place on earth." that's how disneyland describes itself, but that's not the experience of thousands of its workers. and now it's the heiress of the disney fortune who's once again speaking out about the wage gap after speaking to employees at the california theme park. earlier this year, abigail of the granddaughter walt disney comedy, made headlines when she called disney ceo bob iger's salary "insane." amy: in an op-ed for" the washington post" headlined "it's time to call out disney -- and anyone else rich off their workers' backs," she wrote -- "iger took home more than $65 million in 2018.

that's 1424 times the median pay of a disney worker. at the pay levels we are talking about, an executive giving up half his bonus has zero effect on his quality of life. for the people at the bottom, it could mean a ticket out of poverty or debt. it could offer access to decent health care or an education for a child." abigail disney testified in may at the house committee on financial affairs. for more, we go to abigail s speaking g to us from cork, ireland. welcome back. talk about what you found. >> it was pretty clear what was happeningg wasas they were workg to take those low-wage workers at disney and basicically turn them into people who had no recourse andnd no time enough to be able to stand up for themselves as workers so o that

they would h have a refreshing class ofof people that wouldld replace the ones who were unhappy. whenen i was young, it was a job for life,hich is now not a thing in c capalism a anymore ct of but there was the since we had a responsibility as a company to take of the people who took care of us, who are very much h part of the equation in terms of making the place a place you wanted to come back to. and now we're just basically seeing them as in leslie replaceable people. there's a kind of given among people at the high end of the business world that low skilled workers, say call them, are endlesslsly replaceable and they deserve what they get because they don't have higher skills. juan: what has been the reaction among company executives to your continued raising of criticism of them? amy: not to mention, your

family. my siblings are very supportitive of what i am doing. i also have members of my family who are not.t. the company has not reached ouot to me directly, interestingly enough. i think ththey see me as a problem. they tend to pick up the phone and call whoever just intervrviewed me and dreress thm down. they are senending out t targetd tweetsts to everybody on my twitter follolower page and telling them about their education pgram. so they kind of shadow me and they slap back with the e idea they pay a lot for education -- which has nothing to do w with paying the people whwho w work y a fair price for the work they did today. amy: when you testified -- well, a 2017 study that surveyed 17,000 disneyland workers, more than half the resort's

employees, found many struggle to make ins made. 10 were boarded -- 10% reported having been hohomeless, two this said they could not afford to eat three meaeals a day. 75% said they were unable to pay all of their bills at the end of each month. abigail didisney, what are you calllling for? we're talkiking about your family''s company. haveat t'm tryiying to do is a sense of decency moment here. we can quibble about ceo salaries until the end of time and who deserves what, and that is the other thing they clap act is, let's look at the prprofitability of t the compan. of course, deserves a big salary. that might or might not be true. we couldld talk about thatat. but if the compapany so profitable, why are there people going hungry? hereed to havave a momentnt and check in with what our values are. as a society. and say to ourselves, if people

are doing that well at the top, how can we allow people who are workining a full-time job, , whe playing by every freaking rule and allow them to go hungry and without health care and without housing? amy: what does the ceo say to what you say? how much does he make? overr 2019, it will be $140 million, technically, allll in. when i startrted this i started using the lower numberer -- amy: we have 20 seconds. 2019 and whehen for the merger goes through, $140 million. amy: in the mergerer is with? >> fox. there will be the largest media entity in the history of the u.s. or anywhere. amy: we're going to do part two and post it online at democracynow.org and find out exactly what the workers did say to you a disneyland. activist. -- abigail disney is a filmmaker and activist. she is the granddaughter of roy o. disney, the co-founder of the walt disney company.

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♪ hello. you are watching nhk "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. crews of seven finance ministers and central bank governors are vowing to take action on facebook's proposed cryptocurrency. meeting in france, the finance chiefs took up the issue of libra on the first day. all expressed concern that the digital coin could be used f fo money laundering and funding terrorists. facebook is planning to launch libra next year.