08/23/19 08/23/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! guessing that is about what is going to happen. what was your name again? senator jeff merkley. amy: as the trump administration moves to indefinitely detain migrant children and their families, reversing decades of u.s. policy, we speak to oregon senator jeff merkley.

last year he was barred from entering a migrant child jail inside an old walmart in brownsville, texas, where over 1000 children were being held. he is out with a new book "america's better than this: trump's war against migrant families." >> there is nothing darker than the deliberate mistreatment of migrant children as a strategy to determine immigration. literally mistreating children is not acceptable under any moral code or religious tradition. we have to stop his new plan of indefinite incarceration of these children. amy: are houses is on fire. as the french president declares the devastating fires in the amazon to be a an international crisis at of the g7 summit, we will looook at how the policiesf brazil's far r right president jair bolsonaro are destroying the amazon. >> bolsonaro needs to face stop

the b burning, that we will not tolerate deforestatation. we will fight the crimes that deststroyed thee forest. he attacks inspectors and scientists in the indigenous. he criticizes them all, all those who protect the amazon. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the united nations is calling for the protection of the amazon amid fears that thousands of fires raging across brazil are rapidly destroying the world's largest rainforest and paving t the wayay for a c clime cacatastroe.e. on thursday, u.n. secretary-general antonio gutteres tweeted -- "in the midst of the global climate crisis, we cannot afford more damage to a major source of oxygen and biodiversity. the amazon must be protected." the fires have spread a vast plume of smoke across south america and the atlantic ocean

that's visible from space. they're unprecedented in recorded historyry, and environmentalilists say most of the fires werere deliberately st by illegal mininers and cattle ranchers. french preresident emmmmanuel mn called the amazon fires an international crisis and said they should top the agenda this weekend as leaders of the g7 countries gather in paparis. macron tweeted, "our house is burning. literally." indigenous people in amazozonia say the government of far-right presesident jair bolsonaro is enencouraging the destruction. this is indigenous leader handech wakana mura. >> and with each passing day, we see the destruction advance. deforestation, invasion, logging . we are sad because the forest is dying at e every moment wewe fel the climate change. we need thee forest and our children need the fororest. amy: bolsonaro has long made racist comments about indigenous people. in 1998, a brazilian newspaper

quoted him as saying -- "it's a shame that the brazilian cavalry hasn't been as efficient as the americans, who exterminated the indians." in the united states, senator bernie sanders on thursday proposed a sweeping 10-year, $16-trillion plan that would rapidly transition the u.s. energy sector to renewables in order to mitigate the climate crisis. it's the most ambitious plan laid out by any presidential candidate to date. sanders announced his green new deal while touring paradise, california, a town that was completely incinerated in a massive wildfire last year. speaking at a town hall, he defended the price tag of his proposal saying the cost of inaction would be far higher. us thatmists have told the cost of inaction -- inaction on climate change, will cost some $69 trillion throughout the globe. these scientists have told us

that the cost of inaction on climate change will put the entire planet and life as we know it on earth in serious jeopardy. because what we have been told is that if we do nothing, the effects s of climate change will lead to over 250,000 deaths every single year across the globe from factors including malnutrition, he stress, malaria, and other diseases. and that is a very conservative number. amy: sanders' plan calls for all u.s. homes and vehicles to be powered by renewables by 2030, with massive public investment in solar, wind, and geothermal electricity. it would ban fracking, mountaintop removal coal mining, and international trade in fossil fuels. it would also see the u.s. rejoin the 2015 paris climate accord and pay $200 billion to the green climate fund.

and it would guarantee transition for employees. sanders says his green new deal would create 20 million union jobs over a decade. in san franciscoco, leaders of e democratic national committee, the dnc, voted to reject a resolution calling for a presidential candidate debate on the climate. it failed on a vote of 8-to-17. after the roll call, about two dozen young activists with the sunrise movement who were attending the committee meeting rose from their chairs, stood on their seats, and began a protest. >> we are afraifor our ves. we arefrfraid for an uninhabitablee planet. please, please, please, use the microphone you have. amy: the resolution committee's vote thursday is not the final say on the matter. the full democratic national committee could still vote to change its rules to allow a climate debate when it meets on

saturday. as president trump departs for paris this evening to attend the g7 summit, amnesty international is wanting french authorities have severely restricted public assemblies and enhanced judicial measures to arrest and prosecute protesters. at least 13,000 police will guard the summit, as thousands of protesters are expected to take to the streets . the protesters set up an activist training camp ahead of the summit this week, and they're rejecting claims by french authorities that they're planning for violence. this is laura, one of the protesters. >> i think it depends a lot on what we mean by violence. what exactly is violence? when thousands of people die by drowning in the sea because they are hungry because they do not have a home? is it when thousands of animals, thousands of species die when we cut down factors and hectors of amazon forest? or is it when four people break into a bank to protest this

violence? i don't think we have a real sense of violence. amy: in syria, government forces have surrorounded a cluster of towns inin hama province, the country's last major rebel-controlled stronghold. syrian officials said they would open a so-called humanitarian corridor for civilians to flee the siege of their communities. the u.n. says the russian-backed syrian offensive on idlib and hama has killed more than 500 civilians, wounded hundreds more, and displaced some 400,000 since it began in april. the united nations says burmese soldiers had genocidal intent when they waged a campaign of sexual violence against women and girls in as part of a 2017 broader assault on members of the rohingya community in burma. a u.n. fact-finding panel found soldiers "routinely and systematically employed rape, gang rape and other violent and forced sexual acts against women, girls, boys, men and transgender people in blatant

violation of international human rights law." the panel recommended top burmese officials be prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. the violence drove at least 730,000 rohingya to flee to neighboring bangladesh, where they settled in vast refugee camps near the coast. most of ththem remain there tod. indonesia has deployed 1200 additional troops to west papua and cut off f internet access, s thousands s of protesters in the indonesian territory have stepped upheir demanands for independence. the latest protests came after a group of ethnic papuan students were accused of desecrating an indonesian flag and taunted by nationalists as "monkeys," "pigs," and "dogs." they were then tear gassed in ththeir dormititories byby secuy forcrces. the incident sparked protests in at least six areas of west papua, with pro-independence groups setting fires to government buildings, including a prison where some 250 prisoners escaped. in russia, opposition politician alexei navalny has been freed

from jail, 30 days after his arrest for promoting protests demanding democracy. the demonstrations earlier this month were crushed by riot police, who beat protesters in the streetets of moscow and arrested over 800 people. this is navalny speaking to reporters just after his release today. lies and fraud are not enough for them. it is not enough for them to ban candidates from an election. they don't really want to arrest dozens and beat up hundreds. this shows there is no support for this regime. they feel this and they arare afraid.. north korea's foforeign mininisr on thursday called u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo a "diehard toxin" and "poisonous" to diplomacy between the two countries. this comes as north korea and the united states continue to negotiate the dismantling of north korea's nuclear and missile programs. denuclearization talks have stalled for months since a failed second summit between president trump and north korean leader kim jong-un in hanoi in february.

the two leaders met again in june at the inter-korean border where they agreed to reopen negotiations but that has not happened. the u.s. test of what it said missile.n- it was the first test of its kind since the trump administration formally withdrew from the landmark 1987 intermediate range nuclear forces treaty, the inf, earlier this month. french p president emanuel macrn is defending his call for a global tax on technology giants including apple, facebook, amazon, and googogle, which employed complex tax dodges to avoid paying tens of billions of dollars. ahead of this weekend's g7 talks, macron told reporters -- "the global tech players do not contribute financially to the funding of the common good. it is not sustainable." the justice depapartmentnt senae email to all employees of u.s. immigration courts this week that included a link to an article from a white nationalist

web site attacking immigration court judges. buzzfeed news reports the email, sent by the justice department's executive office for immigration review, featured a link to a blog post on the site vdare attacking the judges with an anti-semitic trope. justice department officials blamed a third-party vendor for including the link to the racist article, telling buzzfeed the department condemns anti-semitism in the strongest terms. this comes as trump's justice department is seeking to decertify the union reprpresentg immigration court judgeses. the e union has been protetestig the strict quotas placed on judges, expecting them to process 700 cases a year and tying job performance evaluations to how quickly they close cases. former white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders will join fox news as a paid contributor next month. as trump's chief spokesperson, sanders repeatedly lied about basic facts, belittling members of the white house press corps and even promoting a doctored

video to imply that cnn's jim acosta physically assaulted a white house intern. she frequently went weeks or even months between n press conferences. sanders' move to fox news continues the trump administration's revolving door relationship with the far-right cable network. more than n 20 people have held jobs both at fox and in the trump administration. meanwhile, sarah sanders' predecessor as press secretary, sean spicer, will be paid to appear on the next season of abc's "dancing with the stars." variety reports the deal could earn spicer close to $300,000. one disgruntled abc staffer, speaking anonymously to cnn, said -- "it's a slap in the face to those of us who had to deal with his baloney and the consequences of the ongoing lies and disinformation campaign at the white house." in fresno, california, the legendary union organizer and civil rights activist dolores huerta was arrested along with seven other union members tuesday as they demanded better

pay for 500 home healthcare workers who haven't had a raise in over a decade. huerta, who's 89 years old, joined members of the service employees international union as they chanted and rang cowbells outside the doors of a closed session of the fresno county board of supervisors. she was led away in handcuffs after refusing a police order to disperse. the supervisors have offered to increase the workers' pay by 10 cents an hour. they currently earn california's minimum wage -- just $12 an hour. union members are demanding a dollar-an-hour raise. dolores huerta later told reporters -- "all of these supervisors make over $100,000 a year, while these people have gone without a wage increase for 11 years, and it's time." in hong kong, at least 5000 people, including accountants, marched in the territory's financial district today. some of the protesters wore masks to hide their identities from their employers as china continues pressure hong kong businesses to denounce anti-government demonstrations.

pro-democracy protests have been ongoing all summer, with millions of people taking to the streets of hong kong. and here in n new york the death of the longest serving woman in the state's prison system is sparking new calls for parole reform. valerie gaiter died from cancer last week at age 61 after 40 years in prison. gaiter was serving a 50 year sentence for a gruesome murder she mmmmitteat a age1. she went on b becoma bebelod ment and trained serviceogogs for woundevevetera. ev pririsoguardsdsupported her release. but t e was ineligible to appe before theararole ard d fo other 10 years. at a protest in nhattan tuesy,y, she was remembered by her form p partn kikiki analloyd, and donna robinson whosinincarcateded dghter r s mentored by gaiter >> when you walk throu t these gates, she helped it music, she helpeditith pale ball. she ss the best. her hearwawas ma off gold. you haveo o knowhat.t.

we did our time. person is the same peperson ththey we a a moh ago?o? two years ago 41 years? it has to stop. amy: also the prottt were two state laakakers o' ininoduced a bill to prevent more pplple fr dyiyingn prisis by giving those aged5 5 and oldea chchan to apapar before the palele boa aftfterervingng at lea 15 yeyes of their sentenen. and ose are me of th headline this idemocracnow, demoacynow.o, the waand peace rert. i'm amy odman. e trump ministration is mong to infinitelyetain miant chilen and tir famies, rersing dades o u.s. picy. the department of homeland security and the department of health and human services is expected to issue a new rule today to withdraw from a 1997 federal court settlement known as the flores agreement, which put a 20-day limit on migrant family detentions. if the administration's new rule

goes into effect, migrant children could be detained for months and even years while their immigration cases are heard. on wednesday, acting g homeland security secretary kevevin micah linton said d the new rule would serve e as a deterrent. child should be a pond in the scheme to manipulate our immigration system, which is why the new rule eliminates the incentive to exploit children as a free ticket, or is one tournament in guatemala,, a passport to the united states. amy: the proposed rule change drew intense condemnation from immigrant rights groups and human rights organizations. amnesty international tweeted, "this is more than cruel. it's beyond logic and humanity." we are joined today by democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon, who has become a leading critic of trump's immigration policy. last year he made headlines after he was barred last year from entering an old walmart were the government was detaining around 1500 immigrant

children in brownsville, texas also senator merkley writes about the experience in his new book "america is better than this: trump's war against migrant families." senator merkley, w welcome to democracy now! >> great to be with you. amy: i want to go what is happening today, the flores agreement and the trump administration s saying they're going to and it. explain what this means and what you plan to do about it as a u.s. senator. >> the agreement i is about basc rules for treating children andntly in a human a terry style, meaning nutrition, health care, just the ability to have betting and hygiene. the basics of how you would want anyone treated. this administration has absolutely been inflicting trauma on children as a strategy to deter immigration. and such a strategy goes in

direct conflict with the flores agreement. here's the president saying we're not going to let kids outside to play soccer. then saying we're not going to give flu shots, , even though three refugee children have died veryu and flu can move quickly through the crowded holding cells. this is an administration that appeal to roll you had to provide soap and betting to children. amy: and toothbrushes and toothpaste. >> the idea that you're going to force children to sleep on very cold holding cells, concrete floors, lights on at night, and then proceed to ship them b basically chihild prisons. they had 15,000 migrant children held in these facilities in december of last year. it is a shocking development for america to be in the business of delivering league harming children, and that is why -- deliberately harming children. we have the flores agreement.

the administration says we e ned to imprison children indefinitely. who in the world says we want to imprison children and definitely? and they want to be outside of state licensing and they want to be outside of state supervision. and we know where they are headed when they're outside of supervision because they have demonstrated it time and time again. that is why this is so important. the key peace is flores says you can only hold children and a nonstate licensed facility for three days under normal terms. five days of they come from a remote area whehe 20 days d durg a bibig influxux. this would bust that down so they could hold children for years. amy: so you tweeted wednesday the trump administration is now suspending virtually all of asylum cases claims, processing, for the region served by newark and boston offices. you say there are over 40,000 cases pending in these offices. >> yes.

this was a development where people within the office forwarded and he now that laid out the policy, and internal policy they are shifting people office 40,000 cases, in one sector and they say completely shutting down new cases and the other said there would be very few new cases. i was attacked by members of the administration for spreaeading false information. assembly was reporting what was asthe administration's email to their plan. this means thousands and thousands of people will have their proceedings suspended. amy: we just came from the arizona border on monday. we were there in sonora. we learned about the metering firsthand. and the number of people who are coming through the border, allowed to come through, around six to eight if they are lucky, a day, with thousands waiting. people in mexico, who are

stopped in mexico, are living in the graveyards. they are homeless. they are fleeing gang violence, afraid their kids will be kidnapped as they stay there. is this legal? trump talks about illegal immigrants and invasion, are these actions? legal? >> the president says, i do want crossing between ports of entry. come to the ports of entry. this is something that jeff sessions said when he was attorney general and other said, just come to the ports of entry. but at the port of entry, the administration has erected a blockade. i first witnessed this on the at a border crossing. our border guards across the middle of the bridge, blocking anyone from coming across to did not have a passport. in other words, anyone who was a refugee. the families ours then stranded on the mexican side of the border and that means withohout funds without family, without friends. they are incredibly vulnerable. there are gangs that. upon them. and now the administration has created the system where they

have an informal accounting called the book. the book is sometimes run by drug gangs, run in different ways, but essentially you have to register in his book and wait for your number to be called. it is a number does another form of exhortation. the refugee convention is if you are fleeing persecution and you knock on our door, we will give you safe harbor while we examine your case. that is what an asylum cases. in this case we are saying, sorry, you're stuck in mexico. good luck. maybe in a few months we will talk to you. is people atorm risk. it makes me think of st. louis. the st. louis was a ship in world war ii that had some 900 plus refugees from germany. it was not allowed to dock in the united states. eventually they went back to germany and about one fourth of those refugees died in the holocaust. we are, in this case, straining

people who are knocking on our very, very difficult circumstances. amy: that was during fdr's administration, a bipartisan immigration problem we have had for decades for top we're going to continue with jeff merkley, democratic senator from oregon, member of the appropriations, environment and public works, budget, and foreign relations committetees. his new book is "amemerica is better than this: trump's war against migrant families." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

pena is a self-taught accordionist who began performing in the 1970's and over the years he became known as the accordion rebel as his distinctive take on his music blended. he died of a heart attack wednesday in his home city of

monterey. he was 66 years old. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. to cover the trump administration's move to indefinitely jail migrant children and families and speaking to oregon democratic senator jeff merkley. in june 2018, the senator made headlines after he was barred from entering a former walmart in brownsville, texasas, where the government was jailing about 1500 children. operators of the southwest key facility called the police on the u.s. senator. >> i am guessing that is about what is to happen. >> what was your name again? >> senator jeff merkley. >> how do you spell it? merkley >> a and your dadate of birth? >> o october 24, 1956. >> you are a senator?

>> i am a u.s. senator. policy is involved right now which open. are you familiar with the policy? >> this is not something we specifically deal with. i just want to advise my sergeant you are here. >> i thihink it is important for you all to be aware -- it is been i in the press all over the country that the children who were previously capped withh their families under a new polilicy just imimplemented by e attorney general, are being separated from their families and were housed here. amy: that is jeff merkley trying to investigate a facility that has jailed 1500 children in brownsville, texas. it is a local walmart. explain why you went there and what happened. agon to a cbp processing center just before this and to my knowledge am the first member of congress who was in and then

witnessed that children were in fact being separated from their parents and being put into these big chain link cages in a warehouse. by thebsolutely stunned experience. the press had not been in there. it w was the consequence of jeff sessions and donald trump's 0 -- i call it zero humidity come they call it zero tolerance policy. it was inflicting pain on children in order to determine great and. i heard from activist that many of these children have been stuffed intoto this formrmer wat up in brownsville. i had asked for permission to go and had been turned away in advance. i thought, well, i will knock on the door anyway because if it really has hundreds of children, that a lot of people working there, maybe the supervisor will show me around. as you witnessed, i knocked on the door and actually called up the supervisor frorom outside on my cell phphone. i was toldld by the assistant tt

he would come out and talk to me. he did not, and i call back. oh, yeah, he's coming. he was waiting for the police. i thought, this is going to get interesting. i have never been handcuffed or slander the ground, but it may be about to happen. the police were fairly gracious the of point was administration did not want anyone come even members of congress, to see what was going on. they did not want to press it. because of that event, the press to get in. ofeard there w were hundreds boys, maybe 1000, it turned out that was an underestimate. there were almost 1500 boys placed into that singlgle building. amy: we went soon after you to the southwest -- to this walmart where they had walled off -- they papered over the windows, whatever windows there were, and we tried to get in and they immediately threatened to arrest us if we even dare walk into the parking lot. >> fortunately, the press got in

and was able to describe what was going on. i was struck -- they had built 300 little tiny bedrooms. they have proceeded to have 300 boys just months earlier and expanded of 1500, five caught for little bedroom. they were like, oh, come see our soccer field. i'm thinking, how long does it take 1500 boys to rotate through a soccer field? i said to the how -- as it did ahead of the southwest use, you expanded so dramatically. what were you lacking? he said health care counselors. they were short 90. these are kids traumatized abroad, traumatized been ripped away from their parents, traumatized in the united states of america and they had been able to plan to hire any sort of mental health counselors. this just shows the incompetence and the callousness of this administration deliver early inflicting harm on children. if it happening where else in

the world, we would be doing resolutions in congress, be taking it to the u.n. human rights commission, boycotting, saying never with this happen in america. it is happening here right now. amy: you have introduced an act cosponsored by the new york city or chuck schumer. what is it? have sponsored it. we have not been able the get a single republican on it. it says you cannot leave childrdren stranded. you cannot hold them in inhumane conditions in these holding cells. yep to provide the basics. you cannot lock them up -- you cannot lock them up in an extended period and is in flux facilities which so far have been exempt from the flores settlement agreement. flores says you have to move in state lessons within three days, many children have been held for an average of two months and these influx facilities.

it says you get a lawyer and you get a case worker so that you can actually get your immigration case processed in a .imely fashion it facilitates the movement so you can be and a home, a school, and playground which is where isldren belong, , as your case proceeding. amy: talk about your trip to tijuana. >> i wanted to see with this look like from the mexican side of the border. there are some 30 facilities in tijuana were refugees are crowded in, different human a touring groups have set up houses. i went to seven of them. one of them was the size of a modest sizedom, a conference room. 17 families were living in that one room. four sets of bunk beds along the walls, nine mattresses on the floor. i just feel that the woman who

ran it was such an angel because she was trying to get people's space to get off the street were there so incredibly vulnerable. but these are folks caught up in the metering system, waiting also at that time was about six weeks, now it is longer. and unaccompanied children were not even allowed to get into the metering block. this the registry laid out every morning run erratically by other refugees. in fact, away from the mexican government and the american government to dodge responsibility because this is probably a drug violation of the refugee convention. amy: you also visited the homestead child prison in florida, where a lot of the presidential candidates went because of their debate in miami was not far away. one after another went there and decried this facility. you spoke with the number of children therere. now this is te place that the former white

house chief of staff for president trump, john kelly, has now joined the board of its owner. you mentioned in your book the conflict of interest. >> john kelly, before he went to the administration, was on the board and paid. within a few exempt joining the administration, he was advocating for child separation and detention -- which would be of great profit to this for-profit prison. they are paid on a noncompete 750 dollars per day per child. it is a vast amount of money. it is corrupt because it basically incentivizes the imprisonment of children rather than their movement -- john amy: each child, $750 a day? >> $750 a day. amy: and their stopping kids

from going to be with family or other supervisors that family has approved. >> them no incentive to have the case workers or the field workers to set up the transition to a family setting for these children. this is something ugly and terrible. and then after john kelly left the administration, they put him right back on the board in a paid board position for thisurn, which operates for-profit prison. indeedow it has been out. it is hurricane season. i called up the head of homestead because i had heard from other advocates just a will put ahurricane six-foot wave through it. i asked if they had a plan and they said they did to move the children out. i heard from everyone else they did not. they decided to empty the facility for now, but they're keeping it ready to put children back in. the contract in theory in the

november. this is a point all-americans should say, shut down this for-profit prison. do not renew this corrupt imprisonment of children contract. merkley, the book "america is better than this" begins with the mother and. from guatemala albertina and yaquelin , contreras. you brought albertina and yaquelin to the the state of the union this year. >> the daughter watched her mother be led away in shackles. they were separated for two months and it was not until a down in june of 2018 shut child separation that the mother was free. and then she could not find her daughter. she eventually got her daughter released and returned to her. the administration try to block it.

she had to go to court. finally, when her daughter was flown into tennessee, the whole community group came out and welcomed her. it was on the date of the state of the union that yaquelin turned 12 years old. it was her 12th birthday. she is the most charming young girl, so excited about life forward. i asked her, if you had anything you could say, if you could talk to the president of the united states, what would you say? she said, mr. president, end this most cruel law. i thought those were the best way to describe what the ministry should is doing. "this most cruel law." i titled the prologue after that. amy: i want to shift gears and ask you abouout the father from the trump administration's decision to pull out of the 1987 inf, intermediate range nuclear forces treaty just a few weeks ago. russian president vladimir putin today is ordering his

military to prepare for what he called a symmetrical response after the u.s. tested what it said is a nonnuclear cruse missile earlier this week. the first test of its kind since the trump administration with through from the inf the earlier thisis week, you cosign a letter urging the trump administration to ban the deployment of low yield nuclear missiles and extend a new start treaty. you introduced a bill earlier this year to prevent a new nuclear arms race. is that what we are about to see right now? of graduateme out school, i was planning to work in developing countries around the world on basic health care, etc. i was at the world bank briefly and planning to go to africa. i was offered a presidential fellowship to work on strategic nuclear policy. i switched 180 degrees to that issue because at that moment, that was the biggest threat to the planet. here we are. we have significant advances with the inf treaty done in the

1980's while i was working on these issues, solved in the new start those implemented a few years ago. this a administration is undoing all of that. there's nothing beneficial to the planet to enter a new nuclear arms race. under the nonproliferation treaty, the nuclear power states have a big responsibility to significantly reduce that arms race, reduce their inventories in partnership with other countries saying we will not become a nuclear power. it isn't just about this competition with russia and the impacts it will have on other countries. it is also about the nonnuclear power states and whether they feel like they are going to refuse to have a new clear weapon because are the superpowers doing their job? .his is very dangerous stuff very expensive. there is a plan for the administration over the next 30 years, over $1 trillion spent on refurbishing of their systems without the arms race.

with the arms race, how much more will that be? is this what the world needs? the answer is absolutely not. amy: your response to the president pulling out of the visit to denmark am calling the prime minister, was a woman, nasty because she called his idea absurd send where long pass a time when we can cell populations, because she refused to sell greenland to him? >> our international standing has dropped so dramatically presidenterica has a is is not rational, who basically cozying up to tatars while insulting -- dictators -- there is no respect left for the president of the united states. this is deeply damaging to all of the things -- amy: since the republican party when they were the minority

party in the senate could accomplish a lot more than the democrats can as the minority party. you are in the senate. what can be done on any number of issues, particularly right now, for example, talking about an assault weapons ban after the latest massacres? "the new york times," mitch mcconnell has an op-ed in which he says, oh, we would never go to a simple majority. what are the democrats thinking about getting rid of the filibuster, terrible idea. we have integrity and we would never do this. this is a big lie. the truth is the republicans had two top pririorities. one of those was tax cuts for the wealthy and the other was the supreme court. they changed the rules on both to go from a super majority to a simple majority for they have done this for their agenda for the powerful lust of the question is, will democrats go to a civil majority for an agenda for the people? are we going to accept the senate as being a chamber that obstructs the basic vision, we the people vision of the united

states of america, and the answer is we cannot allow that to happen. if we're going to take on the issue of climate, the issue of background checks for guns, take evisceration of the pocketbooks of americans because of the high price of drugs, we have to overcome this blockade by the powerful in the united states of america against the people. amy: we just got news that david koch him in the billionaire, libertarian hit a more than $1 billion to charitable causes but was better known for using his money to reshape u.s. politics -- i'm reading from "the wall street journal" david koch has died. the koch brothers, the famous oil barons, which brings u us to the green new deal. senator sanders formally unveiled his green new deal on thursday, a $16.3 trillllion proposal, significantly larger amount than any plan released by

his opponents in the democratic presidential race, proposing reaching 100% renewable energy by 2030 and total decarbonization by 2050. sanders also plans to transform america's agricultural system by investing in small, , family run farms, and create 20 million jobs with strong benefits and safety standards, which he says will effectively end unemployment. he says it will pay for itself over the next 15 years. what are your thoughts about this as we look at the horror of the fires throughout the amazon right now? >> this is exactly the type of .isionary plan we need to have in 2017, put together a plan that bernie sanders came out and launched it was called mission 100. it laid out a transition to 100% renewable energy, the end of fossil fuels and every energy sector, by 2050. many said, yes, but do it earlier if you possibly can. absolutely. i have been doing this exercise with people across the country

in which i will have a group breathe then, hold our breath for three seconds, exhale. ready? breathe then. exhale. is completely different from the air from when i was born. it is 33% more carbon in it. every one of those carbon molecules is trapping heat. we are destroying the planet in this generation. it has huge impacts. we must aggressively transition to renewables. bernie sanders has laid out an aggressive land. i applied him. four years ago we did not even talk about climate and the presidential debates, which i was so frustrated abouout. i want to say thank you to governor inslee who is exited the race that made climate what he talked about on every occasion, giving great service to america. amy: you condemned the dnc's decision not to allow climate only debate? >> they have not completely

decided yet. they will have another boat. i am encouraging them to absolutely hold a climate debate. this is going -- first, it is the issue threatening our planet. can human civilization cope with how fast we're changing the planet and destroying the ecosystems? by the way, this is not an urban issue or a rural issue, it is in everyone issue. the biggest effects right away in terms of americans, it is farming, fishing, for street. economy,or the rural which is what we need to engage with role-playing america. connect to. we have to get the truth and partnersrship with rrual americ. amy: you're the first to endorse bernie sanders in 2016. will you be endorsing him again? >> i'm going to wait quite a while and the endorsement front. i really applied so many people getting into this race and bringing so many ideas to bear. i think it is a healthy

discussion. it will soul -- sort itself out to a much smaller field shortly but i love many of these individuals who are running and bringing their ideas and thoughts to bear. amy: you called for president trump's resignation in 2017 over the number of women who had said he sexually assaulted them. are you continue to call for that and do you support his impeachment? support his impeachment. if you had asked me before the mueller report, i would've said it depends on what the mueller report says. what does it say? i want to the floor and laid out the four cases of obstruction of justice in which the president -- there are three things that have to happen. you have to have an obstructive act, no sister court presenting, and you have to have intent. he lays out here is the issue, here is the evidence, here is the connection, here is the intent.

and says strong evidence in four cases on all three points -- my first polilitical act was when vice president to nexen spyro agnew was convicted of bribery and his penalty of taking $100,000 in bribes, $10,000. i'm like, oh, this is justice for the powerful americans. you keep 90% of your ill-gotten proceeds. what happened it will justice under law, those four words carved into the bus out of the supreme court of the front doors? so i wrote a letter to the local newspaper. i was a junior in high school. they published it. i think about this all the time. this president has substantial evidence of major felony crimes and no one will hold him accountable except the house of representatives will step if the house of representatives turns away, then they are participating in the destruction of the principle of equal

justice under law. they have to act. merkley, thankff you for being with us, democratic senator from oregon and new author. his first book is just out titled "america is better than this: trump's war against migrant families." when we come back, the amazon. there is a eme going around that has gone viral online that says the wrong amazon is burning. ice is melting. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. the united nations is calling for the protection of the amazon and ms. fears thousands of fires raging across as ill are rapidiy destroying the world's largest rain forest and paving the way for climate catastrophe. the fires have spread smoke

across south america in the atlantic ocean that is visible from s space. ththey are unprerecedented in recorded hisistory. most of the fires were deliberate lisette byy illegal miners and cattle ranchers. the french president emmanuel macron called amazon fires an international crisis saying they should top the agenda this weekend as leaders of the g7 countries gather in paris. along with president trump. he t tweeted, "our house is burning. literally." jair b bolsonaro responded by accusing macron of h having aa colonialalt mindset.t. fears are mountingng for what th environment willll destrucuction memeans for ththe planet and the global csisis. 20% of then produces oxygen in the earth's atmosphere. the fires have sent massive plumes of smoke across much of south america, turning day into night in sao paulo -- 1700 miles away f from the amazon basinin. indigenous people in b brazil he accused bolsonararo of encouragg

the e destruction. he is worked to deregulate and open up the amazon for agribusiness, logging, and mining since he came into office in january. on wednesday, bolsonaro accused non-governmental organizations for the fires, drawing widespread ridicule and outrage. it camame as indigenenous people used social media to document how illegal loggers are setting fire to their territories. this is s a woman named celia, a member of the indigenous community, speaking in a video ththat went viral across brazil this wee >> look what they' d done ourur reservation. for two years we he e been fighting to presveve thilandnd, anand now those tublemake c come herend s setire totour village . as i it were not enough, the value nining cpany kil ourur river, our people, ousosourcef lifeanand now have come and set fireo ouour servatatn. quite.tt stay tomorrow we will close the road and we want the media to defend us. amy: we're joined in washington, d.c., by andrew miller advocacy

, director for amazon watch. explain the scope of the problem right now in brazil. >> the problem in brazil is not just the fires we are seeing, which are incredibly v visual ad have really drawn the world's attention to what is happening, but the scope of the problems is much broader in terms of the policies and the rhetoric of the bolsonaro administratation -- which is not the first time the amazon has been under assault and not the first time indigenous peoeoples have been facing threats. but we have really seen an acceleration and exacerbation of a lot of the symptoms, the fires as you mention are up essentially it a percent over the same period last year. we're also seeing other symptoms like deforestation rates also being up in a very terrifying way in recent months. in the pressures and threats indigenous peoples are facing on the ground from the illegal

miners, the land grabbers, from the loggers. amy: can you explain what bolsonaro is charging, that ngos are setting these fires? talk about the map of the areas that indigenous people control, where these fires are. >> well, we have seen 10,000 litrs lit and just -- fires in just the last week. it is across the brazilian amazon and across other parts of brazil, actually. if you look at the map of brazil, look at the brazilian amazon from space, essentially, some cases you can see where the indigenous territories are because that essentially is where the trees are still standing. these fires are being set in areas where people are trying -- want to carry out different types of agricultural activities. but as you saw on the video, they're going into indigenous territories.

again, that is symptomatic of the broader policies we are seeing from the bolsonaro administration. they have said in many cases, they essentially want to open a protected areas and indigenous territories to these agribusiness lobby, activities, and so the fires are just sort of the latest manifestation of those policies. amy: so talk about this in the global sense. you have the french president macron saying this should be the top of the agenda of the g7 "our house is burning," to which response,olsonaro that is a colonialist attitude. it is not your house, it is ours. explain the significance of the amazon and then the response of other countries like norway and what bolsonaro is so furious about. close the amazon, as people have focused on for decades, is such an important ecosystem because of the biodiversity, because of

what we call legal logical services that it provides, generating fresh water and oxygen and housing biodiversity, driving the weather systems around the western hemisphere. in recent years at we have talked about -- in recent years as we have talked about climate change, or really, chaos, the emergency humanity is facing, the amazon is seen in the light of helping regulate the climate and sequestering carbon, as we say, and so there are many other crucial in ecosystems around the world and we're seeing these tipping points or we're talking about the possibility of ecological tipping points in terms of the thawing of the tundra, the melting of the ice caps. in the amazon, there is a very strong concern -- and we have seen this and mainstream m medi, the economist wrote a front-page article about this several weeks ago -- this concern that after a certain level of deforestation, the amazon will go into essentiaially -- will go o overd

ecological precipice a and go io what we call a divive b back scscenario. it will air a vocacal he turned into a savanna. the e climate implications of tt are horrifying, especially when you talk about thehese other ecological tipping points. there's a very strong significance to what is happening internationally. in brazil, there is a very strong sort of sense off patriotism that very much get momobilized inin order to essentiallyy critique inteternatioional concern for te theon and brazilians sayingg woworld wants to come in and declare e the amazon as an internatioional area. so there's a strong critique coming, espepeciallyly from extremist right-wing forces represented by bolsonaro, and he says this is ours, we don't want you to intervene. the reality is bolsonaro very much with the international community to intervene in terms of investment, in terms of

supporting megaprojects, in terms of entering into free trade agreements, which would exacerbate many of these problems. he very much wants the international intervention, he just does not want critique or conservation projects or anything that might limit what his government wants to do. amy: talk about the trade deal between the european union and brazil and what it would mean for the rain forest. the united states, trump's close and fellowlsonaro climate change denier, of course. >> in recent years, brazil has had a much stronger relationship with europe in terms of exporting different products, commodities, beef and soy, and and that relationship continues under bolsonaro there is a reorientation of risley inform policy toward the united states. and that is very much based in sort of affinity that bolsonaro feels with trump. bolsonaro is called the trump of

the tropics, in some cases. only look at specifics in brazil and the policies and basically the way bolsonaro has acted since he became president the beginnining of this here, there are many parallels with the trump administration in terms of lack of enforcement of existing laws, making changes to the regulations of laws to weaken protections of environment, human rights, and the brazilian case come of indigenous rights. and this pattern of essentially putting the worst people to lead different ministries in the case of brazil, is opening climate deniers and putting people does the minister of environment -- essentially a criminal from past activities -- amy: we have 10 seconds. what you think is most important for the globe right now, the response to what is happening? >> there are a lot of things that are important.

people need to show their solidarity with indigenous peoples. people should come out and the global mobilizations happening around the amazon come also the climate strikes happening is of timber. amy: we have to leave it there but will put part two online.

man: it's beea a whil sam sure ha