08/13/20 08/13/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from democracynow, this is a cartoon report. >> the case against donald trump and mike pence is open and shut. just look where they have gotten us. more than 60 million out of work . millions of kids who cannot go a crisis ofoll,

poverty, homelessness afflicting black, brown, and indigenous people the most. harris hits the campaign trail with joe biden for the first time. we will discuss harris' record as a prosecutor in california with a public defender who says she was the state's most progressive da and a law professor who says harris was on the wrong side of history for often opposing criminal justice reform. ththough her record did change e says, as a senator. then we go to bolivivia, where opponenents of the coup governmt have enterered day 11 of a genel strike and nationwide highway blockaka to protesest the repead postponementnt of bolivia'a's ft presidential electioion since lt year's ouster of evo morales. >> the bolivian people are demanding the resignation of janine anez and her lazy ministers. amy: all that and more, coming up.

welcome to d democracy nowow!, democracynow.org, the e quarante rereport. i'm amy goodman. former vice president joe biden and senator kamamala harris appeared together for the first wednesday time as running mates on a historic democratic party ticket wednesday afternoon. the pair spoke from local high school gym in wilmington, delaware, to a small group of socially-distanced reporters as the rest of the country watched remotely. harris is first woman of color to be nominated for national office by a major political party. in her speech, she blasted president trump's handling of the economy, hunger, homelessness, immigration, racial justice, and the coronavirus pandemic. >> it is because of trump's failure to take it seriously refusal toart, his get testing up and running, his flip-flopping on social distancing and wearing masks, his delusional belief that he

knows better than the experts -- all of that is reason and the reason that an american dies of covid-19 every 80 seconds. amy: on wednesday, kamala harris named her new chief of staff -- haitian-american lesbian commentator and academician karine jean-pierre. after headlines, we'll air extended excerpts of joe biden's and kamala harris' speeches and we''ll hold a debate on harris' record as a prosecutor in california. the unitited states reported nearly 150500 new coronavirus deaths on wednesday, the highest one-day total of the month and one of t the deadliest d days oe u.s. epidedemic since may. kentucky reported more than 1000 new infections, a single day record. in kansas, the hutchinson state prison has gone into lockdown after 84 prisoners and 10 staff members tested positive for covid. in new jersey, governor phil murphy signed an executive order wednesday authorizing k-through-12 public schools and universities to reopen for

in-person instruction in the fall. >> in-person instruction may resume immediately should institutions so desire and so long as social distancing among other protections are strictly adhered to. and any student who chooses to continue remote learning must be accommodated. amy: here in new york, unions representing teachers and school principals on wednesday called on mayor bill de blasio to delay plans to being the school year in september 10 to allow more time to implement complex safety protocols. the educators' demands came as health officials reported a spike in newew infectionons in brooynyn's s sunset parark neighborhood, with the mayor calling the outbreak a warning light for new york city. in florida, marion county sheriff billy woods has ordered his deputies not to wear masks on the job and barred visitors to the sheriff's department from wearing facial coverings. in an email to employees, sheriff woods falsely claims

there's no consensus on whether masks stop the spread of coronavirus. meanwhile, a "new york times" analysis of federal data shows more than 200,000 more people have died than usual across the united states since march -- more than 60,000 higher than the official coronavirus death toll. on wednesday, president trump publicly introduced the new head of the white house coronavirus task force, radiologist with no expertise in infectious diseases. the doctor has promoted school reopening's previous the suggested cartel and public health measures to allow the u.s. reach coronavirus herd immunityty. he spent his time speaking thanking and congratulating president trump p and vice prpresident pence.e. in new zealand, prime minister jacinda ardern warned auckland may go back into a lengthy lockdown after 13 new community coronavirus cases were detected. new zealand spent more than 100 days without reporting any cases after health officials responded early and d aggressively to thte pandemic. in australia, melbourne remains

on a strict lockdown as the country reports 21 coronavirus deaths on wednesday. 16 of the deaths are linked to outbreaks in nursing homes. memeanwhile, latin america remas a major epicenter of covid-19. mexico's death toll has topped 54,000 with nearly a half-million confirmed covid cases. argentina's death toll topped 5000, and cases are continuing to surge to record levels. this is dr. arnaldo dubin of the argentine intensive care society. if we had low d dea rates untill nowow, it is because the sick cap a and adequatately card for in the health syststem. when the system starts to fill up, the results turn poor and mortality begins to increase. amy: in india, former president pranab mukherjee was placed on a ntilator following surgery for a blood clot in his brain. the 84-year-old tested positive for covid-19 ahead of the surgery. on thursday, india reported 942 new depths and 67,000 new cases,

the high single day total of the pandemic. meanwhile, france and germany recorded the highest level of new coronavirus cases since may. spain faces the worst coronavirus infefection rate in western europe. on capitol hill, republican leaders remamain in a standoff with house democrats over a new coronavirus stimulus bill. house speaker nancy pelosi said wednesday the two sides remain miles apart on a new deal. this comes as new unemployment figures due to be released today are expected to show more than a million u.s. workers filed for initial jobless benefits for the 21st straight week. house democrats rolled out legislation wednesday y that wod reverse postmaster general louis dejoy's changes at the us postal -- u.s. postal service, which have dramatically slowed down the delivery of mail just weeks before a record number of voters are expected to cast mail-in ballots in november's election. on tuesday, the president of the iowa postal workers union said that mail sorting machines have

been removed from iowa post offices, even as a backlog of mail continues to mount. beginning to pile up in our offices and we are seeing equipment being removed. the sorting equipment that we used to process mail for losingy in iowa, we are machines. amy: last week, postmaster general louis dejoy fired nearly overhauled the postal service in what democrats described as a "friday night massacre." in belarus, , police fired live ammunition, stun grenades, and water cannons at anti-government protesters as demonstrations calling for the ouster of long-time authoritarian president alexander lukashenko continued for a fourth straight evening. the u.n. high commissioner for human rights called the police use of force excessive and a clear violation of international

human rights standards, saying people havave been detained, 6000 including children, and at least two prorosters haveve bebeen killed byby police. inin a harrowingng video broadat by belarus state television, half d den terrified protesters are owowed lin up p agait a wallith ininjues to ththeir heads asas one-by-one e they pre toto no longer take partnn antioverernmenprotesests on wednesday, hundreds of women dressed in white marched peacefully through the streets of minsk demanding an end to police brutality. >> we stand against violence, against people getting beaten. we are standing against our children living in such a foforceful state. we just won n a bright future fr oursrselves and our children. amy: in turkey, police arrested 25 women at a protest in the capital ankara wednesday as they called on the turkish government to reverse plans to withdraw from the istanbul convention, a european treaty on gender-r-basd violence. the state dedepartment's officef the inspector general has determined secretary of state mike pompeo had the legal

authority to bypass congress and approve over $8 billion in arms to saudi arabia and the united arab emirates last year. at the time, pompeo claimed the arms were needed for an emergency in yemen where the u.s. has supported the saudi-and uae-led war. but elliot engel, the chair of the house foreign affairs committee, slammed pompeo's actions saying -- "this report tells us everything we suspected. the emergency was a sham. it was cooked up to get around congressional review of a bad policy choice." it is unclear if the past two state department inspector generals supported the findings of the report. in may, president trump fired linick as ig. his replacement stephen akard resigned abruptly last week less than t three m months on the jo. in media news, fox news host tucker carlson lashed out tuesday at a guest who corrected

his mispronunciation of kamala harris's name. >> so that is how it is, kah-ma-la. ispronouncing her name right kind of a bare minimum. >> so i am disrespecting g her about mispronouncing her name unintentionally? you're not allowed to criticize kah-ma-lala or k kamala harris. amy: the exchange came just hours after prpresident trump ao mispronounced senator harris' first name. pres. trump: as far as s kah-maa is concecerned, she's a big tax raiser.. amy: during the same n news confererence, prpresident trump described senator harris as aa "nasty womoman." on wednesday, trtrump madede a broad, racacist appeal to white women vovoters, tweetiting -- "the suburban housewife will be voting for me. they want safety and are thrilled that i ended the long running program where low income housing would invade their neighborhood. biden would reinstall it, in a bigger form, with corey booker in charge!"

and president trump on wednesdsy nomiminated fiveve more candidas to the federal bench, including kathryn kimball mizelle, a florida lawyer and former federal prosecutor who previously clerked for supreme court justice clarence thomas. here's how mizelle described justice thomas at a january event held by the archconservative federalist society. is thed to describe grgreatest living amereric. amy: if f confirmed by t the se, mizelle would seserve a lifetime appointment on a u.s. district court in f florida. shshe graduated collegege in 209 anand is believed d to be in her early 30's. and those are some o of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i am amy goodman. former vice president joe biden and d senator kamala harris appeared togetether for r the ft time as running mates on a histstoric democraratic partrtyt wednesday afteternoon inin a lol highgh school gym in wilmington, dedelaware. they walked in together wearing masks to the curtis mayfield song "move on up," and biden introduced his newly announced running mate to a small group of

socially distanced reporters. biden coat i have no doubt i picked the right person to join me as the next vice president of the united states of america, and that senator kamala harris. this morning, all across the nation, little girlsls woke up, especially little black and brown girls, who so often feel overlooked and undervalued in their communities, but today -- today, just maybe they are seeing themselves for the first time in a new way, as the stuff of presidents and vice presidents. amy: joe biden then turned the floor over to senator kamala harris, the daughter of immigrants from india and jamaica, and the first woman of color on a major party's presidential ticket. >> my mother and father, they came from opposite sides of the world to arrive in america. one from india and the other

from jamaica. in search of a world-class education. but what brought them together was the civil rights movement of the 1960's. and that is how they met, as students in the streets of oakland, marching and shouting for this thing called justice on a struggle that continues today. i was part of it. my parents would bring me to protest strapped tightly in my stroller. and my mother raised my sister and me to believe that it was up to us and every generation of americans to keep on marching. she would tell us, don't sit around and complain about things. do something. so i did something. i devoted my life to making real the words carved in the united states supreme court "equal justice under law." the case against donald trump

and mike pence is open and shut. just look where they have gotten us. more than 16 million out of work. millions of kids who cannot go back to school. a crisis of poverty, homelessness, afflicting black, brown, and indigenous people the most. a crisis of hunger afflicting one and five mothers who have children that are hungry. thanragically, more 165,000 lives that have been cut short. many with loved ones who never got the chance to say goodbye. it did not have to be this way. six years ago, we had a different health crisis. it was called ebola. we all remember that pandemic. you know what hapappened? barack obama and joe biden did their job.

only two people in the united states died. two. that is what is called leadership. but compare that to the moment we find ourselves in now, when other countries are following the science, trump pushed your goal cures he saw on -- miracle cures he's on fox news. while other countries were flattening the curves, he said the virus would just go away "like a miracle." so when other countries open back up for business, what did we do? we had to shut down again. this virus has impacted almost every country, but there is a reason it has hit america worse than any other advanced nation. failurecause of trump's to take it seriously from the

start. to get testing up and running, his flip-flopping on social distancing and wearing masks, his delusional belief he knows better than the experts -- all of that is reason and the reason that an american dies of covid-19 every 80 seconds. it is why countless businesses have had to shut their doors for good. it is why there is complete chaos over when and how to reopen our schools. confusednd fathers are and uncertain and angry about childcare and the safety of their kids at school, whether they will be in danger if they go or fall behind if they don't. reasons also the millions of americans are now

unemployed. he inherited the longest economic expansion in history from barack obama and joe biden, and then, like everything else he inherited, he ran it straight into the ground. because of trump's failures of leadership, our economy has taken n one of the bigiggest his out of all the major industrialized nations with an unemployment rate that has tripled as of today. this is what happens when we elect a guy who just isn't up for the job. tatters,ry ends up in it's otis our reputation around -- and so does our rotation around the world. i will admit over the last four years there have been moments when i truly worried about our future. but whenever i think that there is a reason for doubt, whenever

i've had my own doubts, i think theou, the american people, doctors and nurses and frontline workers who are risking your .ives to save others the truck drivers and the woworkers in grocery stores, in factories and farms, working and putting your own safety on the line to help us get through this pandemic. the women and students taking to the streets in unprecedented numbers. the dreamers and immigrants who know that families belong together. the lgbtq americans who know that love is love. people of every age and color and creed who are finally declaring in one voice that, yes, black lives matter. all across this country, a whole new generation of children is growing up hearing the cries for of hopeand the chants on which i was raised.

strapped into strollers of their own. and trust me, it is a song you will never forget. such everyone keeping up the fight, you are doing something. you are doing something great. you are the heroes of our time and you are the reason i know we are to bring our country closer to realizing it's great p promi. amy: that's senator r kamala harris making her first adaddres as the vicice presidential candndidate on a historiric democratic ticket. in our next segment, we will look at her record as her own descriptioion, calififornia's tp cop,p, when she e was calilifo's attornrney general and before tt diststrict attorney of san francisco. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "success" by iggy pop. ththis is democracy nonow!, democracynynow.orgrg, the war ad peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen

shaikh. good morningng. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we continue to discuss s je biden's historic democratitic ve presidential running mate, california senator kamala harris, the first woman of color on a major party ticket, as we examine her record as a prosecutor in california when she proudly billed herself as top cop and called for more cops on the street. in 2004, harris became district attorney of san francisco. she held the post until 2011 when she became the attorney general of california. briahna joy gray, the former national p press sececretary for bernie sanders 2020, tweeted -- "we are in the midst of the largest protest movement in american history, the subject of which is excessive policing, and the democratic party chose a 'top cop' and the author of the joe biden crime bill to save us from trump. the contempt for the base is, wow." will for more, we're joined by

two o people. we go to san francisco to look at harris' record closely. lara bazelon is a professor at the ununiversity of san frfranco school of law and director of the school's criminal & juvenile justice, and racial justice law clinics. she wrote a "new york times" op-ed last year headlined "kamala harris was not a 'progressive prosecutor'." but also joining us is niki solis, san francisco deputy public defender who has written a piece for "usa today" headlined, "i worked with kamala harris. she was the most progressive da in california." we welcome youou both to democry now!w! we're going to begin wiwith niki solilis, san francisco deputy public defender. but we're going to go first to lara bazelon to fix a technical problem that we have. lara bazelon, can you talk about your c concerns that you laid ot in your op-ed for "the new york times" about the record of commonly harris as -- kamala

harris as attorney general and da a and then her record as a senatotor? >> thehe concerns i laid out had to do with her embrace of policies that in some ways were regressive. for example, when she w was attorney general, and d this isy biggest coconcern, herer office fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful c convictions that in some cases kept t innocent peope in prison, and then i think toward the moment that we are today -- and i admit she has shifted on this -- she did oppose bills or just stand silent on bills that would have allowed her office to investstigate ofofficer-involved shshooting's and mandate body wn cameras byby police officers .cross the state when she was a da, there was a large crime scandal and rather than cononcede the c crush in te lab, shehe fought baback and ace the e judge a bias because her husband, defense a aorney, hadad spoken out against the hiding of

excuculpatory evidence. and while i think this police makes an i important point abobt her marijuana record, and the fact that she did not send people to prisonon and jail as other da's had in n the papast,e did prosecute almost i think 1900 marijuana cases. those folks have permanent records until they were wiped away b by our past da. she declinedd to support a bill in 2016 that would have made marijuana legal s she actively opposed the same bill that came up in 2010 while she was still dada. amy: can youou talk about the trtruelove casase and otother cs like that that you're are s so concerned about? >> jamaal truelove case was prosecuted i initially when kama --,is was prosecuted by truelove was accused of murder. it was a single witness identification. the deputy da who prosecuted him, linda a allen, according ta unananimous appellate court, tod a jury a yarn made up out of

whole cloth. indicating this witness was terrified for her life because jamaal and her family had threatened her which was not true. this witness had thousands of dollars to relocate based on her fantasy fear. unfortunately whwhen the nexext diststrict attorney took office, linda allen was left too prosecute her.r. that was not under kamala harris. and then rda fired her -- rda fired d her must fully. you said since then senator harris has had a good hard shove to the left. can n you talk about that and wt ways has her p position in particular on criminal justice reform moved to the left since she was the attorney general off californiaia? >> i think it is important to credit this and it is the crucucial evolution in a pososin

onririminal jujustice. since she has come to the senate, she has been on the right saidid to many, m many moe justice reformrm issues and has done a 180 on some of her former positions. for example, now she is for thee legalization of f marijuana. now she is for bill refoform. she was onone of the key sponsos for the justice and policing acact, which if i it had passed would have done away with qualified immunity which is a defense that makes it difficult to prosecute officers who do terribible things. she would bad a misconduct regist that would have been nationalized and instituted a number of important reforms. she is taken to the streets after the killing of george floyd. she stood up for marginalized people. she has been a very strong voice on t the importance of racial justice. ,my: let's bring in niki solis san franancisco deputy public defender. usa today"n your beset kamala harris was the most progressive da in california.

talk about your years i wouldn't say working wiwith her, is it fr to say against her? you were on opposite sides? >> both. i worked with her on policy issues, so i was 70 public defender when i met her and she came to the office as the deputy da or assistant da but then after which he became the district attorney and got elected, we worked on policy issues. we were opponents. we were adversaries. you're right in that respect. as far as the work that she did with regard to policy, she did the criminal justice sensor. she formalized and implemented behavior health court, which became a national model for mental health treatment and wraparound services. she also did get back on track, the youth court, youth adult court for 18 to 24-year-olds.

she brought in the cheapest time is to implement that program. simons to implement that program. there were so many policies and so many alternatives to incarceration. these are just a few. it just surprised me that there was this been out, this narrative that she wasn't progressive also she was the most progressive prosecutor in california. and people say, that doesn't mean she's necessarily progressive. my argument is, she absolutely was. oppose the death penalty. predecessor wasn't. i did not get it. i felt like i had to speak out

and do this, even though i'm a public defender and it is very hard for a public defender to speak out in this way. , how wouldki solis you expect her to influluence je biden on the q question n of criminal justice reform and how do you compare where the two have stood on this issue? came in orala senator harris came in, her methodology was -- and she said it over and over again, we have to be smart on crime, we can't be tough on crime. we have to be smart on crime. i would argue that she was a forward thinker. 16 years after she took a position she did not sicken the death penalty, particularly in high-profile case where a priest officer was shot and killed, 16 years later the district attorney in santa clara takes

that position a few weeks ago. if you're saying that is not interestinge, that is to me. i do believe she has those values. i do see her as a forward thinker and a reformist. and i do believe she will inform joe biden on these issues because she has been at the forefront. she stopped prosecuting young girls in prosecution cases and started human trafficking task force and the coalition against trafficking. i am really confident that she has a very good grip on the issues. again, that is what i spoke out. i was surprised there was this spin that i do not agree with. i was in management. i was in management for several years. yes, on the front lines up

there were things we did not agree on. there were things we did not agree on. but as far as marijuana cases weres, those never prosecuted. civil possession of marijuana were never on the court docket. ,s far as sales of marijuana those resulted in alternative court, meaning justice courts, drug courts, and also resulted court.back on track resulted ininso misdememeanor disposition, not felony convictions. if yoyou couldon, spond, a as niki solis talks about her time as a public defender? as a district attorney, should say. >> first i should say i have

tremendous respect for niki solis and i also absolutely understand that she was on the front lines. i do think, though, what i said in my "new york times" is this factual and i stand by. with respect to marijuana prosecutions, she ended up with over 1900 convictions. and while somome were misdemeaeanors, maybe m most, 's stilill basically putting this mark on people's records that makes it difficult for them t to come forward. and what we know all too well, even though people of color used marijuana less rates than white people, they are prosecuted at extraordininarily d disproportie levels. but i think the most important thining to take away f from alls is that the issue and what led me to write the piece that i wrote was that when kamala harris watched her campaign for president, she brain dead herself a progreressive prosecutor. herself ain dead progressive prosecutor. it may well be fair to say she

was more progressive than the santa clara da jeff rosen, i will submit you that jeff f ros, if you're comparing yourself to him, that is a low bar and in fact jeff rosen hired linda she wascently after fired. this is the same da who first under panel has wrongfully prosecuted jamaal truelove. this is a complicated converersation. first ofof all, wewe're talking about a time 200404-2011 where that term did not exist, progressive prosecutor. it was more being "smart on crime."" my issue with kamala harris was her using thehe term because i think it had become very trendy and attractive term to attach yourself to say retrospectively or retroactively that she had been progressive when in fact she had not. amy: niki sosolis? the195 convictions included [indiscernible]

those were the court management system. the allen years. i was there. i never saw a simple possesonon of marijuana proseted. its own. it is surd to y that. the convicons are bas on ses that weree occccring over a long piod of tim and they were sales cases a t they we duced to misdemeanors. i'm not comparing senator harris's record to jeff rosen. i simply saying 16 years later, someone came forward and did what she did. i was speaking on how forward thinking she is. to theompare her predecessor that sought the death penalty. who actually did prosecute marijuana cases, can you? i was

there. i saw it. i think it is fair to say that as far as marijuana prosecutions, she was absolutely forward thinking. we are talking about sales cases where she allowed young adults to go to back on track, where she allowed folks who were struggling with mental health issues do not suffer a felony conviction even though these were felony cases. when you look at marijuana cases , you are talking about all or nothing in california at the time. if you sold marijuana, it was a felony. if you gave it away, unlike with other drugs, he was a $100 fine. if you possess it, up to $100 fine. there was no in between. so this legal fiction was created where we used 11 357 c of the health and safety code, possession of marijuana 20.5

grams or more, in order to reduce the cases to a misdemeanor. on cases where people were going to be convicted of felonies. felony drug sales. and for marijuana. i think that is very forward thinking and i think that is very progressive. and i don't think people could argue with that. if you u canelon, comment on her opposition to the death penalty? right from the start when she was elected da, you had sister democrat senator dianne feinstein speaking at the funeral of an officer who had been killed and actually attacking kamala harris for being opposed to the death penalty. but she stuck to that position. she had been opposed by police officers and unions, but then can you talk about how they changed their position -- not on

the death penalty, but on kamala harris, from prosecutor to gush from da to attttorney general? >> i think is important to note how incredidibly brave the stane was because right after she took office, there was this tragic linda of an undercover police officer and was tremendous sure for her to seek the death penalty to the point where dianne feinstein called kamala harris out at the funeral and kamala harris dedescribes that s one of the most painful moments of her career. she stuck to her principles. what ended up happening was that was tremendous backlash against her and no doubt some of t that was s also motivated by racism d sexismsm because it is important to understand how trailblazing she was as the first black woman to become da in and seek attorney general. during that race, which she ran against the da in lake steve cooley, she squeakeked by with barely less than 1% of the margin. that was in part because of the opposition from police groups

toward her. what she had to do, what she did do, court support very successfully. i think she made a series of compromises and tookok stances, whicich i sort of enumerated at the top of the hour,r, that t id deepeply problematic was up andi think part of that was instinctual political survival. but as a result, very important reforms that we were advocating for, progressives were advocating for, she did not get beyond. the death to legacy is interesting because as the da, -- excuse me, attorney general, she was confronted with this complicated case where in death penaltlty case a jududge had fod the debt nololte to be unconstitutional. it was up to her to decide whether or not to appeal that ruling. and she did. as a resulult of her office defending the death penalty, it was reinstated and we have it to this day. , you're a wlis

public defender, lgbtq mom o of two, argueue many cases against the da's office at the time, kamala harris of the time, on lgbtq rights, kamala harris didn't she preside over the marriage come the first lgbtq marriage in c california -- or t iast in san f francisco? >> can't speak to that, to be honest with you. on her recordpeak as district attorney because having been a public to for 24 years, i saw what she did and i do want to speak to lara's statement regarding her record there. i am here to set the record straight. as i said, as a public defender, it is a very difficult to stand and defend a prosecutor just

on principle. i am mature believer. --m here because i see that i have to say there is credit that is not being given here. the crimetalks about lab scandal, yes, goes to the top. rponsiblerris is and asked to sakak to at, , bu thatat artic it mentions weeks later she started the integry unit at the das office thato ththis day ty're using to implement changes a reform as f aprosecuting cases that volve officers who ha quesonabable rords or o are not trustworthy.. senator harris created that unit

in that office weeks after the crime lab scandal. but the thing is, people are not mentioning it. and that is what i have issue with. yes, as an lgbtq person, i've always felt that kamala has been an ally. the last time i saw was at a breakfast in 2019 at the last in person pride event. beenbelieve she is always an ally of the lgbtq community. she has stood up for the community. but what i want to tell progressives here, people here who are on this call, is it is not about anything except standing up and setting the record straight. as far as her progressive values as a prosecutor. i know to say she was the most progressive might not be compelling. my argument is she was

progressive period. we are talking about a period of 2004. if we agree progressive means moving fororward and making and bold changes in order to effectuate some semblance of justice and equality under the law, she was that person. i talked to her before she became district attorney. i talked to her about my client being found in the dumpster prosecuting -- prostituting yourself. atul senator harris how important it was for us to treat these girls as victims and not criminals., not as i tried a case and a juvenile hall that was prosecuted by her predecessor who people are saying was more progressive. he prosecuted young girls who were charged with prostitution.

senator harris came in and did something progressive and different. created that coalition and she also spearheaded that task force, invited me as a public defender to the meeting, and i spoke up on my experience of these young girls being trafficked and used, their bodies being used. and she stood up and she did something different and progressive. amy: we are going to leave it there and we want to thank you both so much for being with us. niki solis, , san francisco depy public defender. she wrote a piece for "usa today" headlined " " i workekedh kamamala harris. she was the most progressive da in california." lara bazelon is a a professor at the university of san francisco school of law and direrector of the school's criminal & juvenile justice, and racacial justice lw clinics.

wrote a pieiece headlined "kamaa haharris was not a 'progressssie prosececutor'." looking at the issue of same-sex marriage, i thought it was interesting right to, hearses memoir, "the truthshs we hold" where she recalled for shedding some of the same-sexex weddingsr money's on valentine's day 2004 accident san f francisco mayor gavin newsom unilaterally declare that s same-sex x coupls will be permitted to m marry in the city. and when i it came to ththe supe had the first marriaiage after the supreme cot decision was officiated over in berkrkeley by kamala harris. next we go to bolivia where opponents of the coup government have intraday 11 of a general stririke and initial white holoy like a to protest the --

blockade to protest. stay with us. ♪ [music c break]

amamy: "por un mundo nuevo" by kjarkas. ththis is democracy now!w!, democracynow.org, the war and peace repoport. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. to bolivia where protests and blockades have shut down much of the country over the past 11 days. unions and indigenous groups launched a general strike to august 3 condemn bolivia's right-wing interim president jeanine anez for repeatedly postponing the country's presidential election. are neededhe delays due to the covid 19 outbreak but her opponents say she is using the pandemic to strengthen her presidential campaign and to crackdown on critics. has called indigenous

politicians savages and has vowed to bring the bible back to bolivia. on monday, the bolivian government deployed the military as the road blockades shut off access to la paz and other cities. pro-government paramilitary forces have also attacked the protesters. organizers of the general strike are calling for the new elections to t take place september 6. >> we will not allow thiss defective government to embezzle our national state of bolivia. in this council, we determined we will carry on with the protest until the september 6 elections are ratified. amy: other protesters accuse the coup bolivian government of using the covid-19 pandemic to consolidate power. people arevian demanding the resignation of janine on yes and her lazy ministers. they're just using this moment to link our cocountry in the nae

of health. amy:y: the u.s. has come out insupporortable abuse coup government, claiming the o ongog blockade and geneneral strike "threatens democracy." following last yeaear's coup, bolilivia experienced one of its deadliest and most repressive periods in decades as the government carried out summary executions and arbitrary detentions. the violenence is detailed in nw report by harvard's international human rights clinic and the university network for human rights. james cavallaro, the former president of the inter-american commission on humaman rights, sd -- "these abuses s mirror the authoritarian behavior of the dictatorshipips of the 10's in the americas. this must stop." we are now joined by ollie vavargas, journalistst with kakawsachun news. you have been on the streets every day. can you describe what is happening there and j just to ts coup president anez is recently tested positivive also for covid-d-19? >> yes, thank you for r having e

on. of theen day 11 nonow generall strike ththat was calld by the natioional workekers byeraration and also inindigenous groups across the country. almost all of the e key highways in the couountry have roadblock. people put signs directing -- erecting barricades, bringing the country to a standstill. singleid, every part in thes taking strike. it has shown the mobilizing force to oppose the current government. the movement was triggered [indiscernible] much wider anger toward the

current president jeanine anez. power for ninein months. in that time, we've gone frfrom being the fastest growing economy in the region to an economy that collapsed. people feel impoverished. they feel persecuted. the climate of authoritarianism in the country. the suspension of the elections was a trigger [indiscerernible] that is what we're seeing a number of dififferent demands. some calling for elections ass soon as possible. a more radical sections calling for the immediate overthrow of the government. i think the n next couple o of s will bee key sing which section

of the movement will win out. nermeen: ollie vargas, can youu tatalk about how s security fors have r responded to ththe protes and in particularr the paramilitary groups that have reportedly been attacking them? who are these paramilitary securityty forces? and sisince when and by whwhom e they b been depeployed? >> the question of repression during this last p period i thik is an ininteresting question. the police a and milititary havt been mobilized much. that is a lotf reports police in the big citities havae -- uncncfirmed reports. we know the current governmnmt isot shy a about b bringing out the police and milititary when ththey want to. just after the coup, they cacarried out -- dissidenents

indigenous prproteste. [indndiscernible] one in the city in the east and another in cochabamba. mostly x criminals, formed as a political group during a protest against evo morales and they have been reactivated and mobilized. they are armed. they have firearms and have gone to attack protesters in the city of cochabamba. in the city of santa cruz, there you a are a much older group. formrmed in the t traditionally

fascist model, relelious movementnt as wewell. the 2008-2009ive in protes o over evo morales w whih wikileaks s cables have sincnce rerevealed were having money funneled to ththem by the e u.s. aid.nrnment, by u.s. these groups have gone to s some of the smamaller towns in the cy to attack protesteters in one tn in santa cruruz. three e people were shot by thts group. wereaths, but three people hohospitalized with nsnshot wounds. o openlynrnment itselelf is endorse e the scruples of the industry of defefse said these grououps -- - they know to do, y need t to send the messasage to bolivia and the ininterior minister a numbebeof times

publicicly endndordroup in cochabamba clung t them hereroed a fofodemocracy.y. there mobilizing paramilitary groups devoutltly crash proteses but they have e not been able to do that on a nanational scale. ththey have not en able too attack thehe strongest point of ththe protesests. groups areilitary smaller. amy: i wanted tuturned to the ousted president d depome evo morales after the coup. > there was a polititical, ideological, social, cultural, and financial liberation. and what they can forgive as i nationalized the natural resources. the north american empire doesn't forgett the left-wing

country, socialist community shows the world there is a noncapitalist way of doing things witith equality, dignity, and identity. they may cocaine you tell us about this postponed election and what exactly evo morales is saying and the coup president now supported by the united states, anez, who is testeded positive for covidid, calling indigenous people savages,s, sayiying she is bringingng the e backo bolivia,a, what this a all means? >> so the elections are supposed to be held on may 3, whwhic iss the so-called interim presididet took power in a nonovemb,, mimid-novemberer 2019.9. she w was supposed to calll elections within three months but that did not happen. eventually, they agreed on may 3. ad that was supposed to be democratic reach out of the

current government, which it never has significant [indiscernible] postponed with the covid-19 crisis. amongwas a disappointment the people, but a general acceptance because of the way the pandemic was developing at the time. legislature, the majority, said the election august.e in that got suspended again. and finally, september 6 was agreed on is a day. all the parties signed up to it. but what we saw after that, it became very clear that anez's popularity was continuing to slide, the fact that people had income andjobs and received no support, no income

.upport from the state instead what you saw was the government taking out imf loans, privatizing, paralyzing big state projectcts -- amy: we just havave 30 seconondt i want t ask aboutut the trump adadministrationon condemning te blockades in bolivia, claiming the protesters are the ones disrupting the democratic asse s process. if you c can tell us what difference it makes, the u.s. position on bolivia? >> the u u.s. neededs to presse the e bolian g government t to e a peacefulul, d democratitic --t elections as s soon as possible but withoutt the persecution thy haveve been carrrryi out against leftist candidates. if t they could do that, the ony way bolivia can survivive the cris in a peacaceful way. or a brutal state -- amy: ollie vargas, thank you for

being with us, journalist with kawsachun news. that does it for our broadcast. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible byby

narrator: on this episode of "eartth focus," the illegal lumber trade is a multi-million-dollar business spanning the globe. in the northwest united states, scientists are using innovative methods to stop lumber from entering g the country,y, whilen brazil, violent clashes have erupted at the source, where indigenous groups are trying to stop poachers from decimating their forest.