09/18/20 09/18/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we have clear scientific evidence they work and they are our best defense. i might even go so far as to say this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against covid and when i take a covid vaccine. pres. trump: i think you made a mistake when he said that. it is incorrect information. amy: as the u.s. death toll from covid-19 nears 200,000,

presidident trump spspars with e head of the centers for disease control over the importance of wearing masks to stop the spread of the virus. wewe will speak k to dr. monicia gandhi. a professor at the university of california san francisco. then to david goodrich, a former climate scientist with the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. his new book, "a voyage across an ancient ocean: a bicycle journey through the northern dominion of oil." then president trump calls for teaching."tic pres. trump: our children are constructed from propaganda tracks like those of howard zinn that try t to make students ashamed of their own history. amy: we will hear the late howard zinn in his own words. kids that columbus,

whom lehman told was a great hero, that columbus mutilated indians and kidnapped them and killed them in pursuit of gold. should we tell people that did a roosevelt, who is held up as one of our great presidents, was really a warmonger who lived military exploits and congratulated an american general who committed a massacre in the philippines? should we tell young people that? i i think the answer is, we shod be honest with young people. we should not deceive them. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcomome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy gogoodman. the white hohouse scuttled a pln to distribute 650 million n cloh face masks to every residence in the united states during the early y weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.

that's according to "the washingtgton post," which repors vice president pence and other officials rejected the proposal because "receiving masks might create concern or panic." a draft press release about the plan from the u.s. postal service reads, "the first shipments are expected to reach u.s. households as early as april xx" -- w with the date l t incomplete. one study by the center for economic policy research found widespread mask use across the united states would have saved 40,000 lives in the months of april and may alone. the official u.s. death tollll from covid-19 is rapididly approaching 200,000 0 with more than 6.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases. on thursday, new york mayor bill de blasio delayed the start of in-person classes for k-through-12 students until at least the end of september amidst a major staffing shortage in schools and teacher protests about coronavirus safety measures.

meanwhile, "the new york times" reports a recommendation by the cdc to radically scale bacack coronavirus s sting was s not written by scientists anand was published over their strenuous objections. last month, the cdc's website quietly chchanged its guidance o recommend people without symptoms should not be tested, even if theyey've beeeen in cloe contact with an infected person. the new cdc guidelelines coninin basic scientific errors, suggesting they were drafted by a political operative rather than an expert in infectious diseases. one unnamed federal official totold "the new york times" -- "that was a doc that came from the top down, from health and human services and the white house task force." president trump's personal lawyer has threatened to sue scores of state professors and researchers after they published an open letter d denouncing thee

qualifications of scott atlas, a colleague at stanford w who is w advising trump on the pandemic. atlas is that neuroradiologist with no expertise in infectious diseases. "the washington popost" reported alice is pushing t trump for hed immunity strategy that could result in millions more americans deaths. letter -- in an open letter they wrote of him "the guidance he is giving to the white house does not reflect sound epidemiological reasoning nor is it consistent with the current body of scientific knowledge about covid-19." the attorney, now representing atlas, has t threatenedd to sue signatories of the opopen letter anand is demanding a retraractiy today sign thehe letter maliciously defamemes his clien. stanford professor michael fischbeck responded to the threat by writing on twitter -- "i stand b by everything we sai. more facts, more signs, less bebecause woods."

full disclosure, my brother is a dean at the stanford school of medicine, one of the signatories to that letter. globally, confirmed cases of coronavirus have topped 3 million. india recorded another 96,000 new cases over the last 24 hours, putting the nation of 1.3 billion on track to surpass the united states within weeks as the country with the highest number of infections. meanwhile, the world health organization is warning of a new wave of coronavirus cases across europe with more than 300,000 new infections in the last week alone. the who says the surge reflects not only more comprehensive testing, but alarming rates of community spread across the continent. back in the united states, the department of labor is reporting another 860,000 workers filed for new unemployment benefits lalast week.

since the pandemic began, around 60 million jobless claims have been filed -- a new record. meanwhile, the total net worth of the nation's billionaires has soared by nearly $850 billion since mimid-march, a 29% increa. that's according to a new study by the institute for policy studies. this comes as a new poll conducted by npr and researchers at harvard finds economic fallout from the pandemic has hit communities of color the hardest. the study found 72% of latinx households, 60% of black households, d 55% of native american households have reported serious financial problems this year, with trouble paying for food, housing, and debt. a federal judge in washington state has temporarily blocked the u.s. postal service from new operational changes that have slowed down mail delivery ahead of the election. judge stanley bastian accused president trump and postmaster general louis dejoy of being "involved in a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the postal service." he also said the changes created a "substantial possibility many

voters will be disenfranchised." on thursday, trump continued to cast doubt on mail-in voting. in a tweet. he wrote -- "the november 3 election result may never be accurately determined, which is what some want." twitter flagged trump's tweet and provided information about how voting by mail is safe and legal. a formerer top aide on the white house coronavivirus task force s announced she is voting for joe biden, claiming president trump has shown a "flat-out disregard for human life." olivia troye served as vice president mike pence's lead staffer on the task force fromom february until july. troye is featured in a new ad by republican voters against trtru. >> middle of february, we knew itit wasn't a matterer if if wod become a big pandemic you're in the united states, it was a matter of when. at the president did not want to hear that because his biggest concern was we were in anan election year and how is this

going to affect what he coconsidereded to be his recordf success. it was shocking to sethe presesident saying the virus waa hoax, saying everything is ok whenen we know thahat it is not. the truth is, he e doesn't actutually care about anyone ele but himself. amy: in bolivia, self-proclaimed interim president jeanine anez forsuspended her campaign president in an attempt to unify conservative votes against the mas party, formerly led by ousted longtime president evo morales. this comes l less than a year after the extremist right wing leader rose e toowower followina military coup against morales. anez's reign has been marked by skyrococketing milititary and pe repression and violence against indigenous communities and supporters of morales. the presidential election is scheduled for october 18. in russia, aides to opposition leader alexei navalny said thursday german n scientists discovered traces of the banned nerve agent novichok on a water bottle in the siberian hotel room where navalny stayed before

falling ill aboard a flight to moscow last month. navalny is a vocal critic of russian president vladimir putin. he survived the apparent poisoning and was airlifted to a hospital in germany where he's recovering after coming out of an induced coma. a warning to our audience, the following headline contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault. another woman has stepped forward to accuse donald trump of unwanted sexual contact. amy dorris says trump cornered her and assaulted her at the u.s. open tennis tournament in 1997. she spoke with the guauardian in an interviewew published t thura >> he just grabbed me. hehe shoved hiss tonongue down y throat. i wawas pushing him m off and at is when his grip bebecame tight. hihis hands were kind o of likey group -- gropey.y. breasts andy butt and back and eveverything. you could not pupull away. i wawas pushing his tongue out f

my mouth with mymy teeth. it was pretty traumatic. amy: amy dorris joins at least 25 other women who've accused trump of some form of sexual misconduct, with over a dozen claiming sexual assault. in 2005, trurumpas caught onon a hot mic, recorded by the show "access hollywood," boasting about sexually assauaulting wom. >> some tictac's in case i start kissing her. i'm automatically attracted to beautiful -- i start kissing them. like a magnet. and when you start, they let you do it. you can do anything.g. amy: in florida, a lawsuit involving 15 prisosoners a alles rampant sexual violence from guards at federal correctional complex coleman, one of the largest federal prisons in the country. the women say the abuse lasted for years, dating back to 2012, and that they were threatened by guards with being transferred to prisons with worse conditions if they spoke out or didn't comply.

at least six of the accused officers have admitted in government court filings to engaging in sexual misconduct at the prison. none of the guards have been prosecuted. instead, they were allowed to resign or retire and some still receive benefits. one of the accused guards worked at the prison untitil 201919. a new report by y immigration rights advocatates highlights an alararming pattern of human rigs violations agagainst pregnant ad postpartum asylum seekers in the custody of immigrationon and custstoms enforcememenand custos and border protection during the pandemic. some of the accounts include a guatemalanan asylum seeker who s forced to give birth next to a trash can while still wearing pants, a pregnant honduran asylum seeker who was expelled to mexico while she was having contractions. this follows shocking reports that a doctor at an ice jail in georgia has been performing hysterectomies on immigrant women without their consent. the house of representatives has passed the pregnant workers fairness act, requiring u.s. employers to make reasonable

accommodations to people who are pregnant. over 100 repepublicans joined majority democrats in thursday's roll call. labor righghts advocates are demanding republicans take up the bill in the senate, where majority leader mitch mcmcconnel remains focused on pushing through trump's judicial nominees -- eight of whom hahave been confirmed thihis week to lifetime appointments on the federal bench. a warning to our vieiewers, the following story containsns disturbing images of police violence. in utah, a salt lake city police officer has been charged with felony aggravated assault after body camera footage showed him ordering a police dog to attack a black man who was on his knees with his hands in the air. prosecutors say 36-year-old jeffery ryans was not resisting arrest and posed no threats to officers before the assault, which left ryans with severe nerve and tendon damage to his leg. if convicted, officecer nickolas pearce f faces up to 15 years in prison.

president trump lashed out thursday at educators who teach about the united states history of slavery and racism, announcing a so-called "patriotic education plan" to combat what he called "toxic propaganda" in schools. trump was speaking at the national archives museum in washshington. pres. trump: left-wing writing direct result the of decades of left-wing indoctrination in our schools. it is gone on far too long. our children are instructed from propaganda tracks like those of howard zinn that try to make students ashamed of their own history. amy: president trump was referencing howard zinn's "a people's history of the united states." in response, the zinn education project tweeted -- "so what explains the rebellions in 1676, 1680, 1786, 1831, 1859, and more by native americans, enslaved africans, coal miners, and more?

#howardzinn wasn't alive then." trump also called the teaching of critical race theory a "form of child abuse" and lashed out at the 1619 project, the pulitzer prize-winning series which reexamines the legacy of slavery. on twitter, 1619 creator nicole hannah-jones pointed out -- "the white house conference on american history has not a single black historian on it. strange." howard zinn -- we will hear straight howard zinn in his own words later in the program. and two more federal executions are scheduleled for next week at the u.s. penitentiary in terre haute, indiana. one of the prisoners, christopher vialva, is being put to death for a crime he allegey committeted when h he ws 19 yearsrs old. this is vialvava in his own wors in a rare video from death row. >> racial disparity on federal death row. likeke people are only 30% of ts country's population yet we are almost half of the population of federal death row.

penalty.the death the democratic formulala -- - ty want to abolish the death penalty yet no politician has said anything about federal death row. [indiscernible] men are bebeing paraded to the fedederal death housuse right n. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is demomocracy now!, democracynowow.org, the quaranae report. i'i'm amamy goodman. when we come bacack, u.s. death toll from covovid-19 years 200,000,0, and presisident trums sparring with the head o of the cdc over the impmportance of wearing masks to stop the spread of the virus. we will spspeak to infectious disease specialist dr. monica gandhi. herr m message, "masks, masks, masks." stay with h us. ♪ [music break]k]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, ththe war andd peace report. i'm amy goodman. as the officiaial u.s. death tol from covovid-19 approaches 200,0 and d more than 6.6 mimillion cs being reported, "the washington post" reports the white house reportedly scuttled a plan to distribute 650 million cloth face masks to every residence in the united states during the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic. vice president pence and other officials rejected the proposal because "receiving masks might create concern or panic." a draft press release about the plan from the u.s. postal service reads -- "the first shipments are expected to reach u.s. households as early as april xx" with the date left incomplete. one study by the center for economic policy research found widespread mask use across the united states would have saved 40,000 lives in the months of april and may alone.

this c comes as the head of the centers for disease control and prevenention warned d wednesdayt u.s. r residents shohould nonott toto receive a v vaccine for t e cororonavirus untitil at least mid-d-2021, contraradicting president trump's claim that at least 100 million doses could be distributed by the end of f 202. dr. robert redfield was speaking at a senate hearing on the federal government's response to the pandemic. >> these face masks are the most important powerful public health tool we have. i will continue to appeal for all americans, all individuals in our country, to embrace these face coverings. i said if we did it for 6, 8, 10, 12 weeks, we would bring this pandemic under control. we have clear scientific evidence they work and they are our best defense. i might even go so far as to say this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against covid and when i take a covid

the image in a city may be percent. if i don't get it immune response, the vaccine will protectt me and this face mask will. amy: president trump lashed out at dr. redfield's testimony, tellinreporters s in the w white house press briefing room that the top u.s. public health official misspoke. pres. trump: i think he made a mistake when he said that. it is incorrect informatioion. i called him and he didid not tl me that and d i think he got the message may y confused. amy: trump also o contradicted e cdc director over masks, saying a vaccine wowould be much more effective than facial coverings at stopping the spread of the coronavirus. his comment came after dr. redfield e estimated a potential coronavirus vaccine might only be 70% effecective at generating an immune response -- making widespread mask k use critical o ending the pandemic. tuesday at a town hall event hosted by abc, trump again downplayed the use o of masks.

pres. trump: a lot of people think masks are not good. as an example -- where are t the people? i will tell you they are, waiters. they come over and serve you. i saw the other dayay where t ty werere serving me and they're playing with the mask. i'm not blaming them, i'm just saying what happens. they are playing with a mask so the mask is over and they're touching it and then they are touching the plate. that can't be good. amy: for more, we're joined by dr. monica gandhi, an expert in infectious diseases, professor of medicine and associate division chief of the division of hiv, infectiousus diseases, d global medicine at ucsf/ san francisco general hospital. welcome to democracy now!, dr. gandhi. if you can respond to what president trump is saying and how i important you think masks are? great, i think this is that you're talking a about this on this program bebecause masks aree a pillar of pandemic

control.l. they are incredibly important. there is no country in the world right now w that has bn fighting masks like this, especially at the presidential levevel. if w we could have s started weg consistent masks at the beginning, we would have avovoid deaths and cases. one thing i do have to say,, becacause i remember this day yy well, the data cdcdc recommended population level mask wewearing, which was april 3, and the way it was told to us, the amamericn public, was by the president of the united states and he came out at a press conference that optional, i are think it is voluntary, and i'm not going to wear." that way of messaging to the american publilic, including wht you just said the last couple of months, has been very detrimental to our attempt to get universal mask wearing. whatwhy is it so critical trump has failed to do and in so

doing puts out a very strong message -- he refuses consistently to wear a mask. only a few times in all the months of the pandemic, and the last time was in hospital so people do wear masks in hospitals, , president trump refuses to wear a mask. when questioned about whether he was endangering the thousands of people who come to see him at a ralllly who are largelely maskl, it says, i am fine appear. which is probably true, but they are not. they are not social distancing. they are not wearing masks. explain, though it may be intuitively obvious to people, why masksks make a difference ad when you came to this conclusion. >> masks make a huge difference. i don't thinink i can strtress w important ii thihink this is o f pandemic control. there are two reasons that masks

work so well. one is that when the started spreading, the coronavirus, so quickly, january, february, march, people were like, what could be happenining? there was such confusion. and d then r really what happens it turns out -- and we have not seen this for r a long time in infectious diseases -- even though you feel well, you can shed the virus at high rates from your mouth and nose even when you feel fine. and by definition, that asymptomatic spread means if you cover your mouth and nose -- which is what is coming out -- you can protect others. that is one point about mask wearing, protect others. there was a problem the beginning of the pandemic that we message you can just protect others. we are not in a state in our country that civic duty is working out well for us. to be honest, we should have messaged that it protects others

and protects yourself. where did we get the idea that it protects yourself? from decades of literature with other respiratory viruses that putting on a mask protects you. we totally completely common sense connection, but the idea that it protects you is that you block the areas in which you're most likely to inhale the virus, her nostrils and mouth. so we have started messaging in california, we changed our messaging to say "protetect you and protect others." imports ofe two huge masks, which is protects others and protects you, and if we could just wear this -- i really command dr. redfield for saying it so forcefully, the clip you displayed, two days ago in the senate -- if we could just do this consistently, we can get through this panandemic. there are other strategies, but this is a pillar of pandememic controrol. whatthis is quiuite amazing dr. redfield said. he said this could be more effective, not just a

supplemement, more effective thn the vaccine. talk about the effectiveness of masks and why it matters, the whole issue of f asymptomatic versus people who die. much to mask.so there is another theory that it also helps d decrease the severy ofof disease. if you mask up, you get less viral protocols -- particles in. say you are lucky to get infected, you get less viral particles in an there is evidence from animal models and outbreak investigations and even country level data that you're less likely to get sick. of course it is important to drive up the proportion of those who are less asymptomatic. it is deadly for some and for confusing and the

manifestation. dr. fauci has had this many times. how do you get people being completely well and some being so ill? so anything we could do to drive up the proportion of people who feel well, that is what we should be doing. the important part about that is they can also spread it if they feel well. masking is so incrediblyy important for the response. there has s never been a country where mask guidelines are announced by someone who is reluctant, byy someone who doess not model mask wearing. i can't really stress the importance of modeling by public health leaders, by presidents, by mayors, governors to convince the populace t that this is important. raising questions on masks six months into the pandemimic whene have been the epicenter of the pandemic since march 26, we have not moved moved from that dubious position. march 11 pandemic, march 26, the u.s. becomeses the epicenter.

we have not budged from that position. we are clearly doing many y this wrong. but this mask wearing, if we could have modeled it from the beginning, trump and pence in is so important. i don't know how to stress the importance of modeling that for people in the country. amy: you mentioned other countries. can you talk about what has b bn done in other countries and the proof that masks make a difference? >> yes. it i is so intereresting becauso other country hands-down has fought mask wearing like e we he in the united statates. i give you two good d examples. taiwan. march 6, very early in the pandemicic, they have a country near t them in which the pandemc is raging, china. they literally pull out all thee ands and make factories

industry convert to mask wearing. theyey knew about it from sarsr, which was a pandemic in 2003. they mass-produce masks in the populalace wears t them without debates like this because it is such an important pillar of controll. and they have had a a handful of deaths and a country of 23 million people. they provide masks. they model mask wearing, message mask wearing. it just t wasn't an issue. same with many asian countries, vietnam, taiwan, japan, singapore, south korea. from sars they knew how to mask. about the czech republic because they were not affected by sars in 2003, but they figured it out, put outut a mandate for mask wearing on march 23. also quite early in the pandemic. they got through their pandemic so quickly. everyone work cloth face coverings.

, 11 there were like, ok, you can ststart taking off your f fe coverings. it is such a low death rate e in suchch good response.. no one has f fought it like thee u.s. no one. amy: your family is from india. can you talk about whahat is happenining in india, both the catastrophic numbers of cases and how that compares to the death toll, for example, in mumbai? >> that is an intereststing question about india. catastrophic in the number of cases because it is a very dense popopulation. it is a tranansmissible virus. it is very transmissible. the one cheap, easy thing we have available to us is mask wearing. when we think about mumbai -- of ability- there is an not to socially distance, not to test and treat our way out of

the pandemic come there is an ability to wear masks. that thea hypothesis relatively lower death rate compared to other places is the simple modality of taking a piece of cloth, which is very , takinge to us in india the cloth and covering the face and nose. i think spaces that have had lower death rates, there are lots of things -- what is activity from other coronavirus is that people have been exposed to and the other is the simple act of covering the nose and mouth. amy: do you rerecommend certain kinds of masasks? >> yes. i mean, this is a greatat questn ababout what kind ofof masks. thatay i think about it is n95 masks are very tightfitting, the ones that we where in the hospitals. they are most effectivive of blocking out viral proud --

particles, but they're very uncomfortable. i wore when thee other day for like two hours and it was really uncomfmfortable. they're very comfortable and they do not lend themselves to wearing all day. we have to change our stratategy will we start thinking it is a piece of our clothing. beyond that, we really do ask for n95 masks to be preserved for personal protective equipment for health-care workers. there are two options, at least modeling from other respiratory viruses. we could never put masasks on people and sprayed this virus into their face. it is a deadly virus. so other modeling's, other studies, it is two options. one is a surgical mask, which is pretty easy to get in the second is the cloth face covering, and i recommend cotton with two ply, so not one but two ply that you can pull apart.

make it fit over your nose and mouth so you have to bring it up over the nose come over the snug fittingears, if you can get it, and make it -- i just bought really pretty masks yesterday and was very excited i now have them that i am into. to be honest, we have to make it a second skin for maybe a year. when dr. redfield's that what he said about the vaccine, when we think about preventative modalities for any infectious diseases, we don't know when we are going to get a vaccine. to vaccineset safely and make them effective. they are not one to be 100% effective. i'm trials have 50% % of their vaccinee efficacy, 70% is what dr. redfield said we mayay have some that are 70%. you may need two doses. it may take a while to get to

image in a citity. to make it comfortable, make it cotton or club. amy: some researchers say people come into contact with infected people while wearing masks may receive a lower inoculum or dose of the paris, which could make them less likely to develop a sesevere case of covid-1-19. >> yes. that is really based on -- it is a theory but t i think it i is gaining lots of observational evidence behind it. becaususe the mask filters out e majority of viral particles you get less in. if y you do end up gegetting infected. and getting lessss in may lead o a less severe disease. so we get that idea from animal models. less virus in, get less sick. hamsters, even when y you give ththem less of the virus, they t

less sick. watching outbreaks around the world, settings where you're wearing the mask seemed to drive dodown thehe severity of infectn and drive up the ratate of asymptomatic disease. amy: what about how w often you wewear the same mask?? >> i mean, they shouldld not get wet or soiled. really, i would wawash them at least every other dayay. amy: that is if they are not paper. >> exactly. paper, you can't wash them. take your five or six cloth masks and wash them every day,, keep them clean. make it part of your day. make it partt of your costume. amy: this was that town hall meeting held by ababc, president trump repeating his claim that the coronavirus would go away. trumka we are going to be ok. it is going away. it is probably going to go away a lot faster because of the vaccine. it would go away without the vaccinine, but it t will go o -- >> without the vaccine?

," sure, with time. you will develop our herd mentality. it will be heard developed. herd mentality, president trump speaking with george stephanopoulos. i want to go to what is happening in your neck of the woods nearby at stanford. president trump's personal lawyer has threatened to sue scores of stanford professors, epidemiology is, infectious disease doctors aftft theyy publishehed an open letter denouncing the qualifications of dr. scott atlas, colleague at stanford who is now advising trump on the pandemic. atlas is a neuroradiologist with no e expertise in infectious diseases. theas pushed on fox news controversial herd immunity strategy which could result in deaths o of millions of momore americans. in an opopen letter to the

stanford doctors wrote of dr. alice, "the guidance he is giving to the white house does not reflect sound epidemiological reasoning, nor is it consistent with the current body of scientific knowledge about covid-19." attorney kaz was hasas demandeda retraction by today send the letter defames his client. stanford professor m michael fischbach responded to the threat by writing on twitter, "i stand by everything was said. more facts were signed by less kaz with." full disclosure, my brother is a dean at the stanford school of medicine, one of the signatories of the letter. but t dr. gandhi, c could y you responded this? no masasks and herd immunity. >> yes. i don't think those two things go together. no mask and herd immunity. what i is herd immunity?

it is a a valid concept. the concept is when warmth the population becomes immune to the coronavirus or to any infection that the v virus is bobbining ad and can't find anyone to infect, it will start to o slow it spre. but there are two waves. one is lettiting natural infectn rage -- that is not somethihinge wowould witith any infefectiont is deadly to so many people. vaccine that is a will make us immune. mask wearing, the reason it iss so important, even if you get infecteded, if youou get lesessf symptoms -- and that would bee another r way that i it is posse with mask wearing, have asymptomatic disease and you can get t to herd immunity.. no masks and herdrd immunity put together is gogoing to result in many morore deaths. amy: in possibly millions of deathshs? >> possibly millllions of death. it is not sound advice.

i don't understand being against masks and then being for immunity. i think you have to be for both. amy: and then you president trump's personal lawyer threatening to sue scienentists who arare raising this concern? how does this interfere wiwith e scscientific process? >> at the moment, -- the beginning of the pandemic, i was excited it was infectiousus doctor. this has been so politicized and strarange to be in infectious disease disaster in trump's america that it is does she can be on twitter and three days ago i got off because i was getting threats about my mask wearing. i could not understand the threats. reduceway, masks don't oxygenation. now to befficult right

speakiking clearly about the pandemic and having attacks. these scientists are right that you have to propound what is thet, what we know about infectction, and that is how you have to put forth knowledge. thettacks on n the conspiracy theories have been amazing. this. amy: dr. monica gandhi, thank you for beingg with us, professr of medicine and associate division chief of the division of hiv, infectious diseases, and glglobal medicine at ucsf/ san francisco general hospital. next up, as hurricane sally betters the gold coast a and climate-fueled wildfires continue to ravage the west, we will speak with david goododric, former client -- climatete scientist with noaa. ♪ [ [music brbreak]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as hurricane sally batters the gulf coast and climate-fueled wildfires contntinue to ravage e westst, we turn now to look k aw a well-known climate change denier has been tapped for a top position at the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. university of delaware professor david legates has written papers calling for more fossil fuel

emissions and has had his work supported by the robert mercer-funded heartland institute and koch industries, as well as major gas companies. in 2011, he was pushed out of his role as delaware's state climatologist for his views on climate change, which go against the scientific consensus. in 2018, the same year the intergovernmental panel on climate change warned humanity had only a dozen years to mitigate climate change or face global catastrophe, david legates spoke on at a heartland institute conference on a panel called "why co2 emissions are not creating a climate crisis." >> we've all heard that carbon dioxide is a pollutant. it drives climate. it is the single most important factor that determines what the climate is going to be in the future and what the temperature is going to be and how much precipitation there is going to be, so much so we have to put a dangerous sign on carbon dioxide. but the question i really want to ask is, is really a benefit? not just simply -- has it gotten

a bad rap, but is it something we could do with a bit more? the answer to my question is carbon but oxide a pollutant or benefit, clearly is a benefit and we can do the little bit more of it. amy: david legates will serve as the deputy assistant secretary commerce f for observation for noaa. michael mantel in pr he could not imagine "a more misguided decision." well, for more, we go to south orange, new jersey, where we're joined by a climate scieientist who spent his career at noaa, david goododrich.. he is the former director of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration's climate observations division. since his retirement, he has spent his time chronicling the effects of the climate crisis from his bicycle. he is the author of "a hole in the wind: a climate scientist's bicycle journey across the u.s.," and most recently, "a voyage across an ancient ocean" -- in which he takes a bike journey from the alberta tar sands in canada to the bakken oil field of north dakota. welcome to democracy now!, dr.

david goodrich. we want to talk about your book in a moment and your journey, but start with david legates, what it means to have a top fossil fuel company-funded scientist as the head -- one of the top people at noaa where you used to work? >> first of alal thank youou for having me on, amy. it is a pleasure to be here. i think the appointment of dr. -- - if you're basically you look at the s science community, you have about 97% of disagreeing with the position of dr. legates that carbon dioxide is a big problem and a big issue in climate. is disappointing,g, to be sure. i know t the american -- one of the biggest scientific

organizations for geology and geophysics in oceanography under the u.s. has called for this apappointment t to be pulled ba. it is an issue.. i would d also point out i it is certainly not the first time. inn i was w working with noaaaa 2002, there was white house interference with government reports documenting climate sayge had -- were edited to there are significant uncertainties and all of this. it actually hahas been b bettern 30 years since james hansen testify before congress that we have detected a human signal in climate change. it is kind of time for the fog machine to stop, if you will. amy: i am wondedering if you can talk about the whole issue of climate c catastrtrophe.

riright now we have the hurricas that are battering the gulf coast and we have this massive, unprecedented fires along the west coast. and talk about how your latest book and your latest bicycle journey come as you followed what you c call the ancient oce, illustrates what is going on. >> what i try to do on this bicycle -- the first time after i retirired i rode acacross the country from delaware to oregon. looking at climate change along the way. i thought maybe i could go ride to a place where climate change is coming from, where the carbon is coming from the ground. so i figured i would start in the tar sands, northern alberta, which is one of the most carbon-intensive mining operations on the planet, and

ride across on the north dakota prairies to the balkan oilfields of north dakota so i could see it from two different sides of the border.. started the town of fort mcmurray, which is wheree the e tar sands mining -- i chartered a plane. you can really only see the extent of this from the air. from 5000 feet which is where the plane was flying, you are seeing what looked like small pickup trucks but there actually the b biggest dump trucks on the planet. the're going to and from tar sands mine. w willically to take this is essentially boiled down with

flowcals to or it can through pipelines. that takes in a normative amount of energy. think of how much it takes to melt tar in 40 below alberta winter.. it takes a h huge amount of eney jujust to get this oil out o ofe grouound. through the forest and across the plains to the bakken fields of north dakota. that is a different landscape. i was riding underer really hott daday, pushing 95 dedegrees. on the horizon, you're saying oil flares, fires. it reminds you of "the lord of the rings." there is a tremendous amount of flaring going o on in the bakken. two differentnt sides of the sae

coin. inin north dakota, thahat is fracking going on rather than babasically y digging it out ofe ground as s you see in alberta. amy: you write in your book, roughly 80% of currently known stocks of fossil fuels need to stay in the ground to keep climate change within somewhat manageable limits, yet fossil fuel industries are still being incentivized to keep reducing oil. and it received massive baiaiuts during covid, even as the oil indudustry is failing andnd pris are falling. can you talk about this? >> sure. whilee known for quite a that burning fossil fuels is a major way that climate change is goingg on. thahat a largrge amount of the fossil pool resistance --

the fossil fuel extractition is been supported y the government is amazing to me. what needs to happenen is goingo more rewewable energy. in fact, policies have gone againsnst support for wind and solar over the last couple of years. it is disappointing but i like and the change inin climate to sort of turning a ship. there's a lot of momentum. nobody is going to turn off fossil fuels tomorrow, but we need to start getting serious about it. stop s supporting g -- stop subsidizing the production ofof fossil fuels both here and around the world. amy: we spent time in north dakota covering the indigenous struggles to protectct the plan.

i was wondering if you could talk about howow significant thy were? people, for example, leading the charge to oppose the dakota access pipeline -- which, ultimately was built along with the keystone xl the president trump greenlighted in both cases? >> well, i thihink the protests have been very significant. -- coululd access was built the dakota access was buililt. there is a legal action going on against the dadakota acces pipeline. anand keystone has yet to o be built. there is still legagal action going on there. i think what has happened is the about, that came standing rock and from the environment community at large, have made building pipelinines d moving fosossil fuels around a r more difficult and expensive

proposition. i believe that is a good thing. you are basically trying to reduce the flow of carbon into the atmosphere. and pipelines are the way that that happened. pushere is still a lot of to build pipeline capacity out of the tar sands and alberta. that is actually limiting how much -- how much activity is going on in the tar sands and in the bakken as well. amy: david goodrich, the link to what we're saying on the west coast? the unprecedented fires? >> sure. a warming has resulted in the drying out of the foforest. basically, setting them up to burnrn. there hass been certainly issues with long-term f forest

management, but even i in very well-managed foreststs, they hae burned. it is because it has gotten warmer, got dryer, and it takes almost nothing to get the fires burning. amy: david goodrich, thank you for being with us climate , scientist, former director of the e national oceanic and atmomospheric administration'ss climate observations division . his new book, "a voyage across an ancient ocean." we end today show withth the wos of the late historian howard zinn. on thursday, president trump lashed out at educators who teach about this history of slavery and racism, announcing a so-called patriotic plan to combat what he calls toxic propaganda in schools. he called the teaching of critical race theory a form of child abuse, lashed out at the .019 project trump also directly criticized howard zinn during the speech at

the e national archives museum d washington, d.c. left-wing rioting and mayhem are the results of left-wing indoctrination in our schools. it is gone on far too long. our children are instructed from propaganda tracks like those of howard zinn that try to make students ashamed of their own history. amy: so we're turning now t to 2009 was up howard zinn appearing on democrcracy now! ls than a year before he died. he just published "young people's history of the united states." i asked him to respond to a question he is frequently asked, is it so right to be critical of the traditional heroes of the country? people ask that question again and again, should that columbus, whom they havbeen told was a great

hero, that columbus mutilated indians and kidnapped them and killed them in pursuit of goal? should we tell people that theater roosevelt, who is held up as one of our great presidents, was really a warmonger who loved military exploits and who congratulated an american general who committed a massacre in the philippines? should we tell young people that? i think the answer is, we should be honest with young people. we should not deceive them. we should be honest about the history of our country. we should be not only taking likethe traditional heroes andrew jackson and theater roosevelt, but we should be giving young people and alternate set of heroes instead of theodore roosevelt, tell them about mark twain. mark train -- mark twain everyone learns about as the finn,"of "huckleberry

but we don't learn about him as the vice president of the anti-imperialist league. we are not told that mark twain denounced the door roosevelt for approving this massacre in the philippines. peoplewant to give young ideal figures like helen keller. i remember learning about helen keller. everybody learns about helen keller. disabled person who overcame her handicaps and became famous. but people don't learn in school young people don't learn in school what we want them to "the when we do books like young people's history of the united states," that helen keller was a socialist. she was a labor organizer. she refused to cross a picket line that was picketing and theater showing a play about her. these alternate heroes in american history.

--re is failing them are daniel hammer. a lot of people who are not known. have people's history, we was sitting ono the bus in montgomery, alabama, who refused to leave the front of the bus. and that was before rosa parks. i mean, rosa parks is justifiably famous for refusing to leave her seat and she got arrested and that was the beginning of the montgomery bus what cut and really the beginning of a great movement in the south, but this 15-year-old girl did it first. we are trying to bring a lot of these obscure people back into the forefront of our attention and inspire young people to s sy this is the way to live.

amy: that is howard zinn appearing on democracy now! in 2009. howard zinn was attacked by presidenent trump on thursday. vit t educionn project criticized trump's call for paioticc education. the project t tweeted -- "so what explains the rebellions in 1676, 1680, 1786, 1831, 1859, and more by native americans, enslaved africans, coal miners, and more? #howardzinn wasn't alive then." withsee our full interview howard zinn, you can go to democracynow.org as well as all of our interviews w with howard zinn over the years. that does it for our broadcast.. democracy y now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@dememocracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

anchor: local restrictions imposed across europe. the highest number of coronavirus deaths in four months. the u.k. warns of new curbs. >> we are now seeing a second wave coming in. france, spain, across europe. ♪ anchor: this is al jazeera, live from doha. the top health agency in the u.s. reverses controversial advice on coronavirus testing amid allegations of political interference.