12/23/20 12/23/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i feel extreme confidence in the safety and efficacy of this vaccine and i want to encourage everyone who has the opportunity to get vaccinated so that we can have a veil of protection over this country that would end this pandemic. amy: as the nation's top infectious disease expert dr. anthony fauci gets the coronavirus vaccine, we speak to

an emergency room doctor in yuma, arizona, who has gone from treating soldiers in iraq to fighting a pandemic at home. he lost his job in arizona and then got it back after speaking up about conditions in the arizona hospital. we will then look at joe biden's paper education secretary, miguel cardona, a former elementary school teacher who now oversees schools in connecticut. plus, we go to california where governor gavin newsome has picked california secretary of state alex padilla to fill kamala harris' senate seat. moman you imagine what would be thinking out as asked if you want to be the next u.s. senator as united states of the great state of california? official -- this is the ask, brother. >> i ahonored, man.

amy: alex padilla will become the first latinx senator to represent california. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. president trump threatened to thwart the $900 billion bipartisan coronavirus relief package, which he called a disgrace in a video leased on twitter tuesday night. pres. trump: asking congress to amend this bill and increase the to $2000sly low $600 or $4000 for a couple. i am also asking congress to immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation. and send me a suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a covid relief package and maybe that administration will be made.

amy: trump did not say whether he would veto the bill, which passed with a veto-proof majority. todemocrats seized on trump's remarks tuesday night to repeat their own calls for higher direct payments. house speaker nancy pelosi and senate majority leader chuck schumer reminded trump that republicans blocked the move. pelosi tweeted -- "democrats are ready to bring this to the floor this week by unanimous consent. let's do it!" and progressive congressmembers rashida tlaib and alexandria ocasio-cortez tweeted last night 's they already prepared an amendment to add the $2000 payments to the bill. senator schumer responded to aoc's tweet -- "i'm in. whaddya say, mitch?" this comes as the united states is averaging over 200,000 new covid-19 cases per day, with record-breaking deaths and hospitalizations. 2020 was the deadliest year ever in u.s. history, mostly due to the pandemic.

the country is on track to top 3.2 million deaths this year -- over 400,000 more deaths than in 2019. president trump issued 15 pardons and five commutations tuesday, including pardons for four former blackwater contractors involved in a massacre in iraq, three corrupt former republican lawmakers, two people convicted in robert mueller's investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election, and two border patrol agents convicted of shooting an undocumented immigrant. the blackwater guards included nicholas slatten, who was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the 2007 nisour square massacre whehe and other blackwater mercenaries opened fire with machine guns and grenades on a crowded public space in baghdad, killing 17 unarmed civilians, including women and children. the youngest victim was a

nine-year-old child named ali kinani. this is his father mohammed speaking to jeremy scahill and rick rowley in a short documentary called "blackwater's youngest victim." >> horrific. extremely terrifying. i still wake up from sleep startled. why, i ask, why would they do this? we are civilians sitting in cars. most of the cars have families in them, so why did this happen? boom. hearing boom, boom, bullets were flying everywhere. it was terrific. -- it was horrific. horrific. i don't know how to describe it. amy: blackwater was founded by erik prince, a close ally of president trump. prince's sister betsy devos serves as education secretary. go to democracynow.org to see our full coverage of the nisour

square massacre. trump also pardoned ignacio ramos and jose compeán, two former border patrol agents who were convicted in 2006 of shooting an unarmed mexican man and then covering it up. a pardon was also given to george papadopoulos, a 2016 campaign foreign policy adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi during its russia investigation. the three former congressmen given pardons or commutations are all allies of president trump -- duncan hunter, who had pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds, chris collins, who pleaded guilty to insider trading -- both for the earliest congressional supporters of trump. and steve stockman, who was convicted for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable donations. trump was pushed to commute stockman's 10-year sentence by the conspiracy theorist lawyer sidney powell, who has been helping trump try to overturn the november election. she has visited the white house a number of times this week. trump also reduced the sentences

of three women convicted of non-violent drug crimes. president trump is expected to grant more pardons in the coming weeks. on tuesday, the u.n. special rapporteur on torture nils melzer urged trump to pardon wikileaks founder julian assange. meanwhile, trump is reportedly considering granting legal immunity to the saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman, who is facing a federal lawsuit over a plot to assassinate a former top saudi intelligence officer who now lives in canada. such a move may provide the legal basis to protect bin salman over the killing of jamal khashoggi. a new report has revealed at least 36 journalists at al jazeera were hacked using spyware made by the israeli firm nso. the hack was uncovered by the citizen lab at the university of toronto, which tracks use of the software known as pegasus that allows users to remotely exploit and monitor hacked devices. saudi arabia and the united arab

emirates are believed to have been behind the attacks. the number of journalists killed in retaliation for their work more than doubled this year, with mexico being the most dangerous country for journalists in 2020, followed by afghanistan and the philippines. this according to a new report by the committee to protect journalists. the report found at least 30 journalists were killed around the world this year. in related news, in mexico, a former mayor of a small town in the state of chihuahua has been arrested for complicity in the 2017 murder of la jornada journalist miroslava breach. hugo amed shultz is accused of providing information about breach, who covered the drug war, to an organized crime group suspected of her murder. israel is headed towards its fourth election in under two years after lawmakers failed to pass a national budget by a tuesday deadline, triggering an automatic dissolution of parliament. this comes as weekly protests

continue against prime minister benjamin netanyahu over corruption charges and his handling of the covid-19 pandemic. in other news from the region, israeli forces shot and killed a palestinian teenager in occupied east jerusalem monday night. 17-year-old mahmoud omar kameel was from the wt bank. in canada, exiled pakistani human rights activist karima mehrab baloch was found dead in toronto this week. her husband says she went out on a walk sunday and never returned home. her body was found the next day. she fled pakistan after receiving threats due to her human rights work in her home region of balochistan. in 2016, the bbc named baloch as one of the 100 most influential women working in human rights. earlier this year, another exiled activist for the journalist, was found dead in sweden. back in the united states,

california governor gavin newsom has appointed california's secretary of state alex padilla to replace vice president-elect kamala harris in the u.s. senate. padilla will be the first latino -- latinx senator to represent california, a state that is 40% latinx. padilla talks about how his family's background has shaped his political work. >> i can't tell you how many pancakes by dad flipped were eggs he scrambled trying to provide fo us and my mom cleaning houses. i tried so hard to make sure our democracy is as inusive in cafornia and have an important perspective to bring to washington. amy: after kamala harris leaves the senate to become vice president, there will be no black women serving in the chamber.

or on alex padilla later in the broadcast. the justice department is suing walmart for its role in fueling the country's opioid epidemic. the lawsuit accuses walmart of filling thousands of invalid prescriptions, failing to report suspicious opioid prescriptions, and pressuring employees to fill orders quickly even when they were not written for valid medical purposes. some 450,000 people have died from opioid overdoses in the past 20 years. in tacoma, washington, the immigration advocacy group la resistencia is reporting guards at the northwest detention center have threatened a hunger striker with forced feeding. victor fonseca, an asylum seeker from venezuela, has been on hunger strike for over a month, protesting the ice jail's dangerous conditions during the pandemic and demanding prisoners with underlying medical conditions be released. fonseca is currently awaiting deportation. he he is speaking from prison at the start of his hunger strike.

>> what do i have to lose? i have already lost everything. i lost my freedom, my family, my children. enough is enough. i need to do this because otherwise i will die here. amy: according to la resistencia, at least 20 prisoners at northwest are currently on hunger strike. and in chicago, over 1500 essential workers staged a one-day strike tuesday to demand safer conditions and hazard pay during the pandemic for all essential workers. hospital health and maintenance workers, cook county clerk's office workers, and employees from the sheriff's office say county officials have been refusing to negotiate as workers continue to serve essential frontline roles amid the pandemic. this is reverend james phipps, who serves on seiu's executive board for cook county and was an organizer with the student non-violent coordinating committee during the civil rights movement. >> they disrespect us.

they disrespect our unions. but at the same time, they want us to support them financially, for them to attain their goals. we are fighting for our families. we are fighting for economic justice for the community at large. ,e understand in this country most of the black and brn people don't know what generational wealth is. nothing ever trickles down to them. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york joined by my co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: the united states hit the grim milestone of the worst day yet of the coronavirus pandemic this week, with 3350 covid-related deaths on tuesday alone. this comes amid reports that 2020 has been the deadliest year

in u.s. history. the united states is on track to top 3.2 million deaths this year -- with 400,000 more deaths than in 2019. as the country averages more than 200,000 new covid-19 cases per day, we go now to the frontlines of the crisis to eak with a doctor who has been treating patients since the beginning of the u.s. outbreak, first in new york city and now in yuma, arizona -- a covid hotspot with nearly four times more cases per cita than the rest of the country. yuma is home to one of the world's largest military installations and also a massive prison facility where more than 600 prisoners recently tested positive for covid9 and the prison warden died after covid mplications. dr. cleavon gilman is an emergency medicine physician who received the moderna vaccine on thursday.

he is also an iraq war veteran who served as a combat medic and deployed with the marines in iraq's al-anbar province. he says that experience did not prepare him for the coronavirus. dr. gilman has been keeping a daily public diary of his experiences treating covid-19 patients. he says he was fired by yuma regional medical center after he sent out a tweet saying "no more icu beds and at the state of arizona." after public outcry, he was given his job back. he is joining us now from yuma, arizona. dr. gilman, you tweeted some pictures from two years ago when you chaperone a classroom of fourth-graders to our democracy now! studios. it is great to have you back as a guest. so unfortunate under these circumstances. just a little correction, i know you got your vaccine yesterday. how are you feeling?

and talked about what is happening right now in yuma, why you risk your job -- actually, lost your job talking about the conditions under the hospital and then got it back because the community said, no, you are a vital resource in yuma. >> thank you for having me. i have been a big fan of the show for years. it is an honor to be on here. i got my vaccine yesterday, the moderna vaccine. i was a bit uneasy about it because the have been 310,000 people who have died from the virus. i lost three of my colleagues as well. had a 27-year-old cousin who died from the virus. was -- in a vaccine

sense i feel, but i am feeling great. i have a bit of soreness in the arm now. otherwise, i feel great. the condition here in yuma, arizona -- it is crazy because i was in manhattan and then i fly out here, move my whole family out here, and this is a hotspot as well, too. same pandemic here as it is in manhattan. what changes is the volume of patients. not as many patients here in yuma, arizona. however, the resources are not the same year as well. we have less staff here. fors the only hospital hundreds of miles. anour hospital is seeing unprecedented number of patients who have covid.

o, so, so that got me -- i guess i could say i have a moral obligation to tell people the truth about this pandemic. i have seen countless people that have died. since march, i have been keeping a journal about that. to november 20, i was seeing more and more patients who had covid. , governor dougre ducey, was telling everyone there were 108 icu beds. i shared the number. unable to transfer three icu patients. those patients in the er to see brand-new patients at the same time so i put out a tweet that nt viral. the next day i was advised i was unable to return back to the job. tried to group

negotiate over the next three weeks. me hospital refused to let return, despite four doctors being out with covid as well. talked to aly, i reporter and she dropped an article and there was a huge public outcry to have me return back to work. as amy mentioned earlier, yuma is also home to a massive military base and prison complex. can you talk about how these types of facilities have contributed to the spread of covid-19 from what you have been able to tell? >> yes. it seems the first case here actually came from a soldier on the base. --t is out i was introduced

it was introduced to the community here. there are a lot of military personnel and a lot of retired personnel as well here. of the cases here or not from the military, they are from underserved populations. areof the people here latis. i'm seeg a largmajori of ose patits who he the viru the prent -- theres a huge present outeak, 650eople havehe vir. thospatien are begning to tricklen to t e sadly and agicallythe died of theven rus with. an: what about theiruses

impactn the kn whoation in izona? >> t navaj nion was having a lot of problems in june, i believe. since then, they have managed strict lockdown's and were controlling the virus pretty well until about three weeks ago. they began having an increase in cases again. navajoing a lot of nation patients where i met particularly. amy: dr. gilman, your life story is astounding. you quit high school mainly because you are being bullied for your stutter and it was humiliating for you. you end up in the military. in start dealing with bodies a rack. tell us the story where you end up coming back to this country

and going to some of the most elite institutions and becoming an emergency room doctor. talk about your time in iraq and how this compares to yuma. up, i was not really supposed to be anything in life, honestly. i would go on? interviews and would be this cremated against you because of how i dressed and my speech impediment, too. i went into the military and had an opportunity. iraq, i was 24 years old and i remember flying they don't teach you about the enemy. they dehumanize that. we are kind of flying in and everyone is think of i can't wait to kill an iraqi, to kill this person. there's a lot of hate and a lot

of kind of group anger toward the iraqi population. so i get there and the first day i'm out there, a soldier kills himself. in kuwait. and we get mortared and i start treating casualties and start putting 18-year-olds in body bags. that changes you as a human being. i also worked in a prison. i got to see this person i was kind of trained to hate, this person that is not looking very evil to me. i come home and get out of camp pendleton and get in california and begin this journey at the , western college community college. i just stay on the campus for 12 hours a day and hit the books

every day and i'm able to transfer to uc berkeley where i am learning about the war as war and howan/iraq these people were killing us with her own munitions. was worse thanic being in iraq. i say that for a lot of reasons. there are some similarities. you have on a mask. you go in uniform to your job. camaraderie with your people on the front lines. you have nightmares of the patients you treat. but this virus is a trojan horse. it just hides in people and you can bring it home to your families and infect every person in our house. it is also an invisible enemy. you cannot see this virus as well. goingttlefield, we are

into war in hospitals and treating patients and then driving home has a crowded gym, and they'reg, totally oblivious to people dyinin arizona and new york as well. amounts an unprecedented of death. 3000 people dying a day. supportdon't have any from the president at all. falsifyingused us of covid deaths. taking ppe. he contributes with these massive rallies as well. the other thing is, you can't escape this virus. it is everywhere. iraq andust fly out of

be safe, it is everywhere. it is a lot harder. it truly is. in terms of that, you mentioned earlier one of your colleagues committed suicide. i'm wondering if y could talk a little bit about the emotional toll this has taken on health workers like yourself dealing with this pandemic? >> yes. yes. -- i'm a bit more equipped than my health care providers, but it is not normal. it is not normal to see is been people dying per day. gasping for breath. i want to be very clear what these patients are looking like. imagine running on a treadmill full speed and hopping off of it and gasping for breath. that is how these patients are coming into the er and crashing very quickly. intubatedimated a --

a teen the other day and they see young people are not affected by the virus. one of the hard parts of being across from asit loved one and a consultation room and tell them their son, isband, or wife has died it there in the brain and rises up at times and really hard to do this job. that is how come a lot of us .eed your support my colleague that took her own life. it is really hard. colleagues that have been intubated. we are under a lot of straight and are not receiving

support. thesh people would support colleagues act. amy: you worked with dr. lorna breen, head of the emergency room at new york presbyterian. you have been at two epicenter's of the pandemic and a yuma and before that, here in new york when it was at its height. of you,s did a profile one of the most respected health websites. they show a picture of you in hallway of new york presbyterian here in new york where you're sitting by yourself and what you call the bad news chair -- because you used it when you phoned families of patients who had died? the idea that you're not only desperately trying to save lives, but often, along with nurses another hospital staff, the only people around a patient

when they die. talk about that chair. looks my god, amy. the emergency room in new york is unlike anything i've ever experienced. we were putting breathing tubes per day. patients i was calling two to three loved ones a day to tell them their family member had died. let me tell you about the job. it is hard to be a new york doctor -- your doctor, to be an er nurse. it is hard when you see your community that is being killed by this virus, janitors, grocery communityike i whole dying from this virus. i would have to call. i had have a place that was very quiet. so i would kinda prepare myself before that moment.

i it is always the same thing. i would call up and they knew i was going to give them very bad news. shrill cry. even worse when the person on transfer lateto it and you have to hear it twice and it is a dagger in the heart over and over again. countlessimes throughout my shift throughout the pandemic. it is really hard. ofare going to have a lot .tsd in this country it is just horrible. juan: dr. gilman, you recently had the chance to speak by phone with president-elect joe biden. what is your hope that the incoming administration will do differently from what has been coming from washington so far? >> juan, juan, juan. joe biden is an ally.

he is not going to downplay the virus. i talked to present like joe biden and it was great. he is an ally. mandate masks. increase theo amount of n95 masks so that hopefully everyone is able to have one. he is going to do something called contact tracing, which we have not done in this whole country at all. speak to truth. experts to talk about the virus. to tell people, this is a deadly virus and this is what you need to do. i am very hopeful. of the problem is, this virus is out there. 200,000 tover 300,000 new infections per day. after 3000 people are dying. he will be in january 20, but

until then there is a long period where people are going to die in the virus is going to spread. amy: final words for governor ducey and president trump, even as president trump be leaving soon whether he is accepting this or not, there are so many days between now and january 20, days where thousands of people will die. what do they need to do? you in a state where there is no national mask mandate, as there are in most states? at capacitytals are right now. it is unchanged since the 23rd. we need hardline measures. we need a statewide mask mandate. we need to close bars in schools and control this virus. , noted top-down leadership

for him to punt the responsibilities to local mayors making the brunt of orders. it: dr. dr. cleavon gilman, is been a pleasure speaking with you emerncy medicine physician , in yuma, arizona, and also eated cod-19 patnts in new ofk city at the epicenter the pandemic. also an iraq war veteran who served as a marine combat medic . only come back, look at joe biden's pick for secretary of cardona. commit miguel guestsic rake is by our dr. cleavon gilman says when he sings, the stutter because away. it is "rise up now." ♪ [music break]

amy: dr. cleavon gilman singing "rise up now." this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. gonzalez. we look now at president-elect joe biden's nomination of connecticut public schools commissioner miguel cardona as the next secretary of education, tapping a third latinx person to join his cabinet. cardona is puerto rican, grew up in public housing, and spoke spanish only when he first entered public schools. he began his career in education as a fourth-grade teacher, then rose to be connecticut's youngest school principal at age 28, and then assistant superintendent of a school district with just 9000 students in his hometown of meriden, connecticut. he became the state's top official just last august and is the first latinx person to hold the position. during the pandemic, cardona has advocated for the reopening of schools, though only about one-third of connecticut's public school students are currently able to attend in-person classes. he's also pushed to use federal aid to buy personal protective equipment for teachers and classrooms, and his

administration allocated federal funds to purchase laptops and internet access for students who remain at home. if confirmed, cardona will replace trump's education secretary betsy devos, who urged career employees at the education department earlier this month to "be the resistance" when the biden administration comes into power next month according to a recording of her meeting obtained by politico. for more, we're joined by diane ravitch, who served as assistant secretary of education under president george h.w. bush. she is a historian of education and best-selling author. her most recent book is "slaying goliath: the passionate resistance to privatization and the fight to save america's public schools." she blogs at dianeravitch.net. welcome back to democracy now! we're going to talk about betsy devos' record but we want to start off by talking about the significance of what for many was a surprise pick, the educatn secretary.

>> it was a surprise pick because dr. cardona is not known outside of connecticut. in the early discussions he might be selected as commissioner, his name was not vegan. the good thing is, it is not betsy devos. and every educator in america or almost every educator will be thrilled about that. secondly, as a public-school person. he went to public schools. his children go to public schools. he has been in public schools throughout his career. that is a big lust for many people who have been watching the attacks on public education and teachers for the past four and more years. i am diane ravitch, wondering come as you are saying, it was a surprise the miguel cardona pick. many progressives for years have been pushing for democratic presidents to name linda darling

hammond, the california educator as secretary of education, but she was on the transition group that apparently pushed for cardona. --elieve cardona maybe spent the first latino to be named education secretary back when you were in the white house or the administration there was president h.w. bush secretary of education but i believe that cardona may be the first puerto hean deaf person apart or can ancestry ever to serve on a president's cabinet. so that is certainly a breakthrough in terms of the tina representation and a federal government that are specially in light of the reality that so much of the public school system in that united states is increasingly

latino. 55% of all the public school arels in california today hispanic. state .exas, the entire 40% of new york's public school population. even north carolina, 16% of the .ntire public school the problem of solving the education obstacles that latino children and a schools are at the heart of improving public education. inhis sense, do you think there might be real potenti for progress with cardona running the education department? >> dr. cardona took his bachelors degree i bilingual and bicultural education, so certainly knows the problem free well. has worked on them in his role as the superintendent and as commissioner in connecticut.

he has a lot of pluses in terms of his experience with the latino and hispanic population. juan: in terms of the whole issue of charter schools -- you and i have talked often and we the drasticot of turn the country is taken to charter schools. do you get any sense of where cardona stands on the sue of federal info just for underwriting of development of more charter schools? >> here is the thing. i think in part cardona was chosen because he is noncontroversial. as i understand it, the choice came down to between dr. cardona and dr. leslie stanwyck, the dean emeritus of howard university. of is an outspoken critic charter schools and basically the federal policy of the past 20 years. i happen -- she is a

progressive. i publicly supported her on my blog because i think she would have been in federal policy. i don't think the biden administration wanted to upset the so-called reformers by choosing someone who is so unspoken. dr. cardona has been very low-profile. it is hard to know if he is for or against charters. he has said in connecticut he wants the testing to go forward this spring. i think progressives understand the testing has gotten out of -- the and mandated the annual mandated federal testing is left over from the george w. bush no child left behind era. or 20 years we have been following the no child left behind texas miracle, which was a hoax. there was no texas miracle. yet the federal government year after year continues to require every child from third grade eighth grade to take the same , state testingst

or attest by some manufacturer. thinks from what i have seen tweets and public comments, things that testing has been too much, which is right. but he has said nothing about suspending it for the spring. even betsy devos suspended it last year, but s said she would not suspend it if you were in office this year -- which, thank goodness, she is not. i think on day one, the biden administration should announce there will be no mandated testing this spring because the inequality to access to education the past several months has bn dramatic. i can save the country hundreds of millions of dollars by telling what the results will be. i already know what they will be. the rich kids will have high scores and the work is will have low scores. those who have the least access to technology will have the

most scores. i just saved hundreds of millions of dollars. amy: for people who don't know who you are, former assistant secretary of education under president george h.w. bush, you then took a very different turn after the data started coming in on charter schools and fiercely opposed them. you wrote on your blog that where dr. cardona is from, experienced some of its worst charter scandals in the nation. i was wondering if you could tell us that history? then let's pivot to betsy devos, sister of erik prince -- his justny is for mercenaries pardoned by president trump for .he murder of iraqis but betsy devos, the education secretary, talking about people having to join the resistance against biden when he comes in

inside the education department. but start with connecticut and what happened there. connecticut had a massive scandal. the governor at that time, whose name i can't recall, although he was democrat, was very supportive of charters. he encouraged charters to open. conneccut does not have a lot of charters. i think i have 21, which is a small number compared to a state like california that has over 1000 or even new york state which has hundreds. connecticut had a huge scandal. something called the fuse that were interconnected. it turns out they were being run by someone who was convicted felon and his record wasever reviewed by the state. there were charges of nepotism and basically a chunk of that charter closed down but it is still there and they had to

clean up its act. but having experienced that scandal, connecticut should have looked closely at the whole charter idea. instead they contained it. connecticut happens to be home to one of the earliest of the no excuses charter chains. no excuses means kids are disciplined in a very harsh manner. innovated,o be not but a school from 100 years ago were school was almost in many respects a penal institution. kids were not allowed to talk to each other in the hallways, disciplined for the smallest things. it then spread into rhode island. three of the achievement first charter schools right now are on probation. they were puthere last spring because they have high test scores because they kick out the kidsho don't get high test scores but ty have very harsh discipline. the state says they had to act more like a public school. he was the commissioner at that

time, the state board of education took a strong stand against the achievement first disciplinary practices. so i am hoping as he comes into the position of secretary of education, will expect more charter schools -- to me, the big issues with charter schoo, there is very little federal government can do about them. arne duncan, obama secretary of education, required states to open more and more charter schools if they wanted access to a huge pot of federal money, $5 million in the race to the top fun. what the secretary does now is handout $440 million every year to open new charter schools. most of that money under betsy devos has gone to corporate chains and going to states that did not want the money and don't what you charter schools. then they open anyway because the money is there. fromnk the first priority in terms of -- in terms of

charter, is to defund that $440 million slush fund, which devos used for her own private passion, which is undermining public schools and advancing privatization. as for betsy devos' statement to the career staff at the department of education, having worked there, the career staff is committed to the mission of providing support for public education. with the exception of the people that she brought with r -- i hope will all be gone with her -- the career staff does not share her goals and will not be resisting. i expect if anything that will identify trumpers who have been indebted and what appeared to be career jobs but in fact are political people. and they know thdifference. they will share that with the incoming biden team. they do not share her mission of undermining public education. amy: dianeravitch, thank you for being with us, assistant secretary of education under

president george h.w. bush. the we come back, we first latinx u.s. senator from california. ♪ [music break]

amy: "have yourself a merry little christmas" by ala.ni and directed by spanish filmmaker isabel coixet. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. california governor gavin newsom has appointed california's secretary of state alex padilla to replace vice president-elect kamala harris in the u.s. senate. padilla will make history as the first latinx senator to represent california -- a state with a population that is 40% latinx. he was first elected to public office at 26 years old when he joined the los angeles city council. he went on to serve two terms in the state senate followed by two terms as the state's secretary of state. alex padilla is the son of mexican immigrants.

in video posted by governor newsom to twitter, padilla talked about how his family's background has shaped his political work. amy: alex padilla is a close ally of governor gavin newsom. he has not taken a public stance on popular progressive issues such as medicare for all, the green new deal, and abolishing ice -- immigration customs enforcement. for more on his appointment, we go to los angeles where we're joined by fernando guerra. he is a professor of political science at loyola marymount university where he is also the director of the center for the study of los angeles. we welcome you to democracy now! it is great to have you back

after a number of years. can you start out by talking about the significance of this appointment and who alex padilla is, someone you have known for many, many years? >> obvious the, the significance is very historic and symbolic that latinos now have this position. there have beeterminus amount of latino political mobilization. you've seen latino myers and lieutenant governor,atinos be the head of the legislature a speaker or president pro tem of the senate. really the only key positions that latinos have not paid in modern times is u.s. senate, which they have never held in california and governor. there was a latino governor in the 1870's, but this is a reflection of the historic importance of latinos. aboutolitically, we think latinos are 40% of the popution and also a significant number of the

electorate. it is because of latino politicalobilization that california is deeply blue. without that latino mobilization, california would be purple and maybe even read and would change the whole dynac of natnal litics. that for manye presidential elections, republicans always one california. itas not until 1992 the democrats started winning. we all know the ross perot factor. after that, they're dependent on the latino vote. the latino vote is the backbone of california being democratic, which becomes the backbone of the democrats having a chance under the electoral college. alsoric significance, but political significance. alex professor guerra, padilla, from what i can tell, as part of this whole sort of

generation of key latino leaders in california -- i include in l.a.,ity councilman from kevin d lyons, who all came of age i the fight against proposition 187 in the mid-1990's and really began to exercise their leadership but he is not necessarily one of the most progressive of this group. could you talk about his political leanings? you are right. a great point. alex padilla as part of the original resistance to the republican anti-immigrant policies of the early 1990's. many of your viewers remember 1994 there was a proposition and a califnia, proposition 187, anti-immigrant, anti-latino. out of that resistance came andle like kevin deleon

alex padilla. at that time alex padilla was a yog 20-year-old who just graduated from m.i.t. wi his dree andng decided to get involved and at public sector. of 1994 as a ton of progressive latinos. it is much more moderate. he is not a progressive in the same sense that alexandria ocasio-cortez or someone like that. but he will not be against the new green deal. you will not be against abolishingce. but i don't think you will be under the forefront of those issues. i think the most important issues to him are going to be immigrant rights and equity and economics and education and most importantly voting rights -- that is his one area of expertise. juan: in terms that there was a whole lot of jockeying within the political forces in

california on gavin newsom. there were those who wanted an african-american woman, either barbara lee or karen bass, to replace kamala harris. what is your sense of how gavin newsom dealt with those competing pressures on him? >> at the end of the day, he dealt with them masterfully. it just shows what a politician -- great politician he is in terms of the inside game. you're right that there was tremendous amount of pressure on him to appoint a latino, to appoint an african-american female, to appoint someone fro the lgbtq community, to appoint someone from southern california versus northern california come to appoint an woman. there were newspaper ads taken out and "the los angeles times" separator newspapers urging him to appoint someone they were supporting. at the end of the y, he

understood the historic significance for latinos. he also had other variables. number one, alex padilla has been a strong ally of the governor for many years. not only did he endorse him for governor, alexadilla endorsed newsom for governor in 2010 when newsom was thinking about running against jerry brown. they share a lot of the same perspective. in addition, he also thinks alex padilla and ho the seat in 2022. you don't want as a goverr to appoint someone and they quickly lose the seat. has held statewide office before. he will have a good shot at staying in that seat in 2022. you will definitely ha -- probably have vice president kamala harris' endorsement.

he has to be careful, but he will be a strong ally of biden. he will be very much in the liberal democrat but don't expect him to be the leader of progressive's. to replace alex padilla as california secretary of state, gavin newsom has named status of the woman shirley weber. if confirmed, she would become the first black secretary of state in california's history. if you can comment on this and what it means for the landscape you wouldn't -- if a progressive, would you say liberal democratic senator alex padilla? when you look at the other latinx senators from ted cruz to marco rubio to menendez? >> first, the appointment of

shirley weber. this is what i was referring to in the past, how brilliant governor newsom was. criticisme to deflect about not appointing an african-american woman to the u.s. senate by simultaneously appointing an african-american woman to secretary of state. it was a brilliant move. it is difficult for meone to say, hey, this was terrible, did not appoint an african-american woman. hey, what he you talking about? yes, he is going to be a lot more liberal than the latino senators like this most of two cubans, also republican. but you have now four democrats, new one ind a mexico. i think you will be more progressive than any of those. amy: i want to thank you, fernando guerra, professor of

political science at loyola marymount university, director of the center for the study of los angeles. on tuesday, today to our documentary. reai>úog

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