democracynow.org [captioning made possible by democracy now!] 02/18/21 02/18/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we had a fireplace and i used up all of the wood we had. this is set. this is a sad state of affairs. somebody has to do some planning after all of this is over and make sure there is an alternative source of energy. amy: millions of texans were plunged millions into freezing cold and darkness after a major winter storm overwhelmed the

state's power grid, which is indendent of the rest of the country to avoid federal regulation. republican governor greg abbott is trying to blame renewable energy, congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez and the green new deal -- which is an even place yet -- for his state's blackouts. we'll go to houston to speak with professor robert bullard, known as the "father of environmental justice," about the disproportionate effect on low income communities and communities of color, which have also been hit harder by the pandemic. then as covid-19 infection rates go down, the cdc says it is too soon to lift mask mandates. >> the bottom line is this. masks work and they work best when they have a good fit and are worn correctly. amy: we'll speak with infectious disease specialist dr. monica gandhi about which masks to wear and how to wear them and how many. then we look at mounting

pressure for president biden to cancel student debt. >> president j biden has a remarkable opportunity to unite broad coalition of individuals together behind cool student loan -student loans. it would not only the cumbrancabout,ut set of the conditions that got us a president trump in the first place. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. millions of people in texas are suffering as a new winter storm hits the state amid a deadly power and water crisis. as texas experiences record-low temperatures, more than 600,000 homes remain without power after

texas's under-regulated electrical grid collapsed. some texans are sleeping in their cars for heat. more than 12 million texans face water disruptions. residents in houston, austin, san antonio, and other areas have been ordered to boil tap water to ensure its safety. but many don't have electricity to do it. some parts of the state have no running water at all. texas is also running out of food as the storms have disrupted key supply chains. the powerful winter storms have left at least 38 people dead across texas and other states. we will go to houston, texas, after headlines. life expectancy in the united states fell by a full year during the first six months of 2020 largely due to the coronavirus pandemic. it is the largest drop since world war ii. life expectancy for black americans dropped 2.7 years and 1.9 years for latinx people. according to the centers for

disease control, the overall death rate from covid-19 for black americans is three times higher than for white americans. meanwhile, in florida, republican governor ron desantis is defending his decision to prioritize giving vaccines to wealthy floridians living in two mostly white, planned communities with ties to the billionaire uihlein family -- one of the biggest donors to the republican party. on wednesday, governor desantis threatened to block vaccines from going to communities who criticize his actions. >> look, if manatee county doesn't like us doing this, then we are totally fine with putting this in counties that wanted. we are totally happy to do it. amy: at the united nations, mexico has denounced wealthy nations for hoarding covid vaccines, saying the unequal distribution system will harm the globe. this is mexican foreign minister marcelo ebrard speaking earlier this week.

>> we are going to present mexico and latin america's position in regards to what is happening in the world. the inequality, the lack of fairness when it comes to vaccine access. the countries that produce vaccines have very high vaccination rates and latin america and the caribbean, much less. amy: in mexico, less than 1% of the population has received at least one vaccine shot compared to over 12% in the united states. over 177,000 people have died from covid in mexico -- the world's third highest total after the u.s. and brazil. according to the world health organization, there were nearly 130 countries as of last week with no vaccines. on wednesday, gaza received 2000 doses of russia's sputnik v vaccine after the shipment was initially blocked by israel. gaza health authorities say the first vaccines will go to at-risk residents but not medical personnel since there are not enough doses.

meanwhile, el salvador and south africa have also begun vaccination campaigns. new research shows top executives at pfizer, moderna, merck, and other vaccine manufacturers sold nearly $500 million of stock last year as the value in the companies soared due to the pandemic. the fbi and the u.s. attorney in brooklyn have opened a probe into new york governor andrew cuomo for covering up thousands of deaths in nursing home during the pandemic. more than 15,000 nursing home residents died in new york -- nearly double what cuomo had initially disclosed. meanwhile, democratic new york assemblyman ron kim has revealed cuomo called him at home last week to threaten him for speaking out about issue. kim said cuomo threatened to "destroy me." this comes as new york lawmakers prepare to vote next week to strip governor cuomo of

emergency executive powers during the pandemic. democratic lawmakers are introducing president biden's immigration plan to congress today. the legislation includes an eight-year path to citizenship for the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants. some immigrants could face a shorter process, including farmworkers and recipients of the deferred action for childhood arrivals program, and immigrants who have temporary protected status. in other news from washington, d.c., senate majority leader chuck schumer and senator elizabeth warren have criticized biden for refusing to back a plan to cancel $50,000 in student debt. we will have more on the debate over student debt later in the broadcast. in burma, protesters have taken to the streets for a 13th straight day to oppose the february 1 military coup. on wednesday, hundreds of thousands of people marched in rangoon in the largest anti-coup rally to date. some protesters rallied outside the chinese embassy to criticize

beijing's support for the military junta. nearly 500 people have been charged and detained in burma over the past two weeks. bolivia's central bank has returned a nearly $350 million loan from the international monetary fund, which had been given to bolivia after the 2019 coup. the head of bolivia's central bank said the move was needed to defend the economic sovereignty of bolivia. president biden spoke to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu wednesday for the first time since taking office four weeks ago. according to the white house, the leaders discussed iran, military cooperation, as well as biden's support for israel's recent normalization of ties with several countries in the arab and muslim world. meanwhile, the white house has announced it will "recalibrate" its relationship with saudi arabia by holding talks with saudi king salman instead of crown prince mohammed bin salman.

in other news from the gulf, the bbc has aired video of a princess in dubai who says she is being held hostage by her father, the prime minister ofmo the united arab emirates, a close ally of the united states. princess sheikha latifa has not been seen in public since she tried to escape the uae in 2018. >> i am a hostage. all of the windows are barred shut. i cannot open any window. i have been in solitary confinement. no access to medical help. nothing. amy: princess sheikha latifa speaking in a newly aired video. her older sister shamsa hasn't been seen in over 20 years since being seized on the streets of cambridge, england, after she tried to flee her family's estate.

the u.s. has approved nearly $200 million in arms sales to egypt despite ongoing human rights abuses. this comes as egyptian-american activist mohamed soltan said tuesday egyptian authorities raided the homes of his family members, taking some into detention. in northern nigeria, unidentified gunmen have kidnapped as many as 42 students and teachers at a boarding school. at least one student was killed. amnesty international described the attack as a possible war crime and called on the nigerian government to do more to protect students. the south carolina house has passed a sweeping anti-choice bill to ban nearly all abortions in alabama. democrats criticized republicans for prioritizing the bill over all other legislation at a time when the state is facing a health and economic crisis. the white house has announced president biden supports studying whether reparations for slavery should be given to black americans. on wednesday, the house judiciary committee held a hearing on the issue.

speakers included ucla law professor tendayi achiume. >> reparations is about undoing structures of racial injustice that are a result of enslavement. pointing to individuals who are black who have succeeded while people of african descent or descendents even of slaves and pointing to their successors can't negate the fact we have persistent structures of injustice that have to be addressed, including through reparations. amy: the department of housing and urban development is facing criticism for failing to protect residents in federally subsidized housing from lead poisoning and contamination. an internal watchdog report obtained by "the washington post" reveals hud neglected its own environmental regulations at an apartment complex in east chicago, indiana, which was built on top of a toxic site. in 1998, a study showed 30% of children under the age of six had elevated levels of lead in

their blood, but hud took years to address the issue. "the intercept" recently reported more than 9000 federally subsidized housing properties sit within a mile of a superfund site. the right-wing radio host rush limbaugh has died at the age of 70. his daily program was filled with racist conspiracy theories and disinformation and it helped transform the republican party, leading to the rise of donald trump. over the years, limbaugh often targeted barack obama, people with aids, immigrants, environmentalists, and feminists whom he dubbed feminazis. he also downplayed the severity of covid-19, climate change, and smoking. he died of lung cancer. and in atlantic city, authorities have demolished trump plaza hotel and casino via a controlled implosion. donald trump opened the 39-story building in 1984, but it had been vacant since the casino closed in 2014, leaving 1000

workers out of jobs. and those are some of the headlines. this is demoacy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i am amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we begin our show in texas, where millions were plunged millions into freezing cold and darkness as a major winter storm overwhelmed the state's under-prepared power grid. at least 38 people have died, hundreds of thousands remain without power as texas bases record-low temperatures. more than 12 million texans face water disruptions and have been ordered to boil tap water to ensure his safety, even though many like electricity to do so. some parts of the state have no running water at all. texas is also running out of food as the storms have disrupted key supply chains.

this is a resident of denton, texas. >> we had a fireplace and i burned up all of the wood we had. this is sad. this is a sad state of affairs. somebody has got to do some planng afterll of this is over and make sure there is an alternative source of energy. amy: texas republican governor greg abbott took to fox news tuesday to blame renewable energy for texas' blackouts, saying the green new deal would be deadly for the u.s. >> it shows how it would be a deadly deal for the united states of america. texas is blessed with multiple sources of energy, such as natural gas and oil and nuclear. amy: abbott's comments contradicted texas' own energy department, which said the outages were due to "frozen instruments at natural gas, coal and even nuclear facilities." congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez tweeted -- "the infrastructure failures in

texas are quite literally what happens when you don't pursue a green new deal." there are three energy grids in the united states -- the west, the east, and in texas, which set up its own independent power grid, the electric reliability council of texas, or ercot, in the 1930's to avoid federal regulation. now it by cold weather, it collapsed. on wednesday, abc news asked ercot's ceo bill magness if texas should be integrated into the national grid. this was his response. >> welcome again, we have to focus on getting the oblem solv and getng the power back on. there will ctainly be investigations to this ent to determine the rht approach going forward is. today, andarly focused on going forward.

i'm sure those conduct -- discussions will come but we need to get the power on for people. amy: meanwhile, in a blog post wednesday by house republican leader kevin mccarthy titled "what's up in texas?," texas governor rick perry -- who was energy secretary under president trump -- said texans would prefer rolling blackouts to government regulations. perry said -- "those watching on the left may see the situation in texas as an opportunity to expand their top-down, radical proposals. two phrases come to mind -- don't mess with texas, and don't let a crisis go to waste. texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business." for more, we go to houston, texas, where we are joined by one of those texans who went without electricity. robert bullard is a distinguished professor at texas southern university who is known as the "father of environmental justice." he's the author of many books, including "the wrong complexion for protection" and "confronting environmental racism: voices

from the grassroots." he is also the co-chair of the national black environmental justice network. dr. bullard, welcome back to democracy now! can you describe your own experience in the situation of people in texas right now, this devastating state collapse, which seems traceable back to just they did not want to be federally regulated and how it has disparately affected texas? >> first of all, amy, good morning. i am really glad that my power is back on and can have this interview. i was out of power for two days. the lights came back on yesterday. the temperature had dropped outside i think it was 11 degrees. inside my house it had gotten in the low 40's, 41, something like

that. very cold. in texas, we are not used to that. i have gotten calls from some folks in houston were temperatures in their homes went down in the 30's. to hear elected officials talk about we are proud to be off the grid in terms of the u.s. and texans pride themselves of being the lone star state, but when it comes to this cold spell and this failure, we are alone. we are the alone star state. the impact of this storm is more than just power outages and inconveniences for those communities that historically have been impacted by energy

insecurity, energy poverty. having to pay large portion of the household income for energy. and this kind of disruption with this cold spell and with people having to raise the thermostat to keep warm will meet after this power -- will mean after the power outage has been restored, people are going to have high bills, utility bills, and some won't be able to pay and some will get shut off. that is the inequity that is piled on top of the inequity. and we see this happening all across the city, as well as the state. we are also dealing with the era of covid. no power, no lights, no water -- no way for you to boil water if you don't have electricity and no to wash her hands and deal

with covid if you don't have water. it is a pandemic, a catastrophe. technically, ms. nermeen: dr. bullard, uld you respond to what the texas governor has had, greg abbott, blaming renewable energy sources for the blackout? >> he made a statement and then walked back, talking about we have a diverse energy portfolio. as a matter fact, the facts don't bear out what he said. the renewables outperform the other natural gas and coal and nuclear. went to really look at science. -- we have to really look at science. a lot of the finger-pointing and

blame game is not based on science -- well, it is, partially, it is called political science. i think people who are suffering right now and hurting with no espower, no money, no water, no form of transportation to get to the grocery store to get water where there is no bottled water in the stores or food, they want to see action and answers. even officials are calling for an investigation stop but a real investigation would start pointing back to individuals that are in charge. i think the idea of texas not being part of the union has really been a textbook example of how not to do it. we are a failed state right now.

issue of an bimetal justice, we were in houston and interviewed you, dr. bullard to come after one of the major hurricanes. we were looking at the frontline communities who were so hard-hit by these hurricanes, disparately affected, much worse than other communities. then as you said, you have covid. you have some heating centers if people are lucky enough to get into one because electricity is out in so many places, but i don't know if it is lucky because they are packed in like sardines when we are dealing with the pandemic. and then you have this issue of renewable energy. it looks like governor abbott went on fox to say this is about the green new deal, which has not even been passed yet. locally, knowing no one would buy it in the pedro metro in

houston or anywhere else in texas, he walked it back. but that got out into the right-wing blog sphere and twitter and that is what their blending what their blending will we're talking about something like 10% wind turbines when they were supposed to be updated and they were not, but so much more, the vast majority of the energy sources are not renewable. can you talk about what you see this as an environment of justice issue? you're so famous percent "depends on who is at the table ." you have a complete failed state right now. how do the right people get at the table? >> it is important that we take a comprehensive view of what is happening here on the ground. the very communities that were hit especially hard during harvey and flooding, as you map

that, it is the same communities overlaid that were hit hardest, black and brown communities, by covid. if you overlay the power outages , the rolling blackouts, etc., and you start to look at the releases from these refineries and plants because of unstable power and the releases come over 300,000 pounds released during i guess three days or so that created lots of problems in terms of potential health impact. releasing of benzene, a known carcinogen. we talk about environment, health, energy. we are talking about issues related to access to food and

health care -- all of those things are rolled up in one. and when we talk about a solution, that means we need to have t right pple at the table when decisions are being made as to how we come out of this catastrophe with a solid plan and not assume, well, we can just paste it over and so we can go on with businesas usual and not expect to have something like this to recur. lessons unlearned. we had a major power outage i think it was 21 or so. there were no lessons learned from that. there were no lessons we could have taken forward and strengthened our system, grid, and to talk about building something that is solid, sustainable, and resilient for everybody. there are some people that have not missed a beat.

you have a generator that is pumping in your backyard or yet a credit card and can drive to a hotel and wait it out. you're hurt and pain may be less than those who are feeling the hurt and pain first, worst, and longest. we have to come through this withoor people in those rooms in austin, talking about solutions and not the same people who created the problem. we can't expect them to solve the problem. it is not real. amy: we want to thank you for being with us, bob bullard, distinguished professor at texas southern university, cochair of the national black environmental justice network. author of many books, including "the wrong complexion for protection" and "confronting environmental racism: voices from the grassroots." among other effects of this catastrophe in texas and the surrounding states is the

breakdown of distributional of vaccines. next up, we're going to talk about covid-19 infection rates are going down, but the cdc says it is way too soon to lift mask mandates. we will speak with infectious disease doctor monica gandhi come about how to wear a mask or how to wear at once -- to wear two at once. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "after the stor by yasmin williams. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. while covid-19 infection rates and hospitalizations appear to be waning, the united states has a long way to go before it can safely return to a mask-less normal. the u.s. centers for disease control chief dr. rochelle walensky has said it is absolutely too soon to lift mask mandates, citing daily covid-19 case numbers that remain at more than double the levels seen last summer.

she urged people to wear a more tightly fitted surgical mask or layer a cloth mask on top a surgical mask. >> the bottom line is this. masks work and work best when they have a good fit and are worn correctly. amy: ware far away fromhis endemic being over, especially with the surge of variants. for more on which masks to wear and how many, and a brief discussion about vaccines, we are joined by dr. monica gandhi, an infectious disease physician and professor of medicine at university of california san francisco at ucsf/san francisco general hospital. she recently wrote a piece in the journal "med" by cell press about how to wear face masks and is also studying the relationship between masks, distancing, and ventilation. dr. gandhi, welcome back to

democracy now! as we talk about vaccines and the lack of access to vaccines as a wle other story in this country, not to mention the rest of the world, but it seems like people are relaxing around wearing masks. can you talk about how critical it is right now? >> yes. it is an important time to wear masks. why? if we can get our transmission down as low as possible, tt is going to make the vaccines more effective. this is because a virus cannot you take if it cannot replicate. also, we have never rolled out of vaccine in any pandemic ever in the midst of a pandemic. usually vaccines are made after. so the lower the transmission under the community, the better the vaccine will be for efficacy. nermeen: dr. gandhi, as far as masking is concerned, some former biden visors have urged a

wider use of n95 masks saying cdc guidelines don't go far enough. your response? that correct? >> actually, i think they're both right. what i mean by that is it is time to increase what is called the fit infiltration ofur masks, but that -- there are many ways to achieve that goal. n95 is just one of them. what the cdc ended up doing is giving alternatives to that. because 95's, that they're very fit, block out truly 95% of iris, they are uncomfortable, harder to get, and they have to be fitted. what our study in the cdc study was doing, they were both trying to attempt to say, what else could you wear besides an a in 95 to block the virus to the same degree? the cdc on february 9 published an article that

says, ok, are there other ways to increase fit infiltration of our masks? one way was putting this surgical and cloth mask together. why? because they filter in different ways. the surgical mask blocks electrostatically the virus and the cotton does it through fibers. putting that together blocks as well as and 95 and there were other alternatives to that sttegy as well. so they're both sort of right. nermeen: can you talk about how you think masks should be worn? >> it depends on which setting your in. this is at is impoant. we have never done a very good job in this country about tiered messaging. we have a paper coming out tomorrow where we propose nonpharmaceutical interventional triangle. that means there are masks on

one side of the triangle ventilation on the third side. if one goes out, the other can go down. if you're outside, no reason to wear a stronger mask. you're outside and have ventilation going or you. if you are inside and an adult because the middle of the triangle's susceptibility to covid-19, and if you are an adult, what to increase -- while we are in the period of decreasing transmission but still ongoing transmission, you want to increase the fit infiltration of your mask. there are two ways to do it. the easiest way is n95 and the second is surgical with cotton together. you can layer it whatever way you want. we just talked about texas and the environment. i actually recommend their surgical mask on top of the cotton mask because you can then use the surgical mask multiple times. the third what is to take a cotton mask and you can buy many

on the internet and it has a place for a filter inside. the two pieces of cloth with a filter inside block viral particles more effectively because the filter blocks in one way and cotton blocks in another. it is quite a lightweight option. ta it out when you're washing it and replace it after washing the mask. amy: what are the most common mistakes in how people are wearing a mask? the critical point i think if they're wearing, for example , akn95 mask and a cut on top of it, is not to wear the paper mask inside but on the outside because you will break whatever seal there is. is that right? >> that is true, actually. a kn95 is quite effectiv if you get it from a reputable company, genuinely come you don't need another layer because it really does block 95% of the virus. if you're going to put a layer

on top, it is the seal around the face that is evan tatian about the n95 so anhing on top with it you want to put on top, that is accurate. to make it super simple, kn5 or n95. or the filter inside with two cotton leaders. nermeen: i would ask about transmission, which is crucial for this question of masks that is transmission after vaccination. since december 14 when vaccinations ban in the u.s., the u.s. has administered 55 million doses and presently a ministering 1.8 million and a day, which is the highest number in the world. yosaid rectly, you quoted a doctor saying it takes a special kind of pessimism to think that vaccines will not decrease transmission.

could you talk about that? what do we know about transmission of the virus and after receiving two doses of the vaccination and even if the vaccination does decrease transmission, does it do away with it altogether? close great question. the reason this is even a debate is because the trials were designed in a way that they were evaluating symptomatic covid-19. he did not feel welcome you got swabbed. they said oh, you don't have it in the vaccine trial but you do in the placebo arm. he did not mean we never thought it would decrease transmission. there is increasing data that these vaccines afterward will reduce or eliminate asymptomatic in your nose so you can pass it on to her biological reasons -- for biological reasons. what is the antibodies still get in your nose. they also produce another type

of -- another that gets in your nose. third is even the micro bonnell at abadi's, they reduce -- the antibodies reduce it in your nose. and the fourth, and any cat or primate model, and you gave some of the vaccine, it was in the nose and lower respiratory truck. we are now seeing in israel and u.k., the roll up going well, the cases are going down along with hospitalizations. they all block severe disease but are also blocking cases. swabbing of the nose of the people after vaccination of the viral load is going down by fourfold. it is very likely and honest definitive it is going to block transmission -- almost definitive it is going to block transmission. at this moment, until we know this ironclad way, meaning we swab multiple people after their

doses of vaccine -- which is happening in pfizer and the moderna vaccine participants -- ensuring there is none left in the nose, vaccinating -- two vaccinated people can be around each other without masking order social distancing. but some are vaccinated and some are not so the vaccinated are still asked to wear masks and distance in public while we are waiting for the unvaccinated to become vaccinated. at a certain point these masks will go away, but we're not quite there yet until we get to herd immunity. amy: can you talk about the variants? right now south africa so serious in the united states and the race between getting the vaccine in time for dealing with these variants. now this term in the south, a very stormy new york, snowstorm

in new york, but certainly in texas, in the south that has really broken the supply chain. getting the distribution of vaccines so hundreds of thousands of appointments it sounds like aroundhe country are being canceled right now because they can't get the vaccine. what about that race? why is the variant so critical here? >> it is true that this virus is going to mutate. it doesn't mutate that fast company is just that we've had so much transmission right now these mutations are coming out. one reassuring and one the vaccines block all. the johnson & johnson study was in the south africa. . 95% of the strain. johnson & johnson blocked

hospitalizations and i was completely -- even out of the hospital. a good sign because t cells from our vaccines will block all severity. when you're in a setting of replication, t variants can keep on going. there can be more -- there is a race between getting everyone vaccinated and tamping down transmission. the more critical, faster do this, it is incredibly critical. we are at a complete race. any blockage to that seems -- distribution like you mentioned in texas and elsewhere is a problem. but we're going to get there. it makes the race more urgent. and because we want to thank you for being with us. dr. monica gandhi is a professor of medicine ank ucsf/ san francisco general hospital. next, pressuring biden to cancel

student debt. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "a change shall come" by starr busby. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we turn now to the student debt crisis, which tops $1.7 trillion in the united states, with some 45 million people owing money. students, campaigners, as well as top democrats have been pushing president biden to use executive authority to cancel at least $50,000 in student loan debt. biden was asked tuesday about his plans to do so at a cnn town hall in milwaue. >> we need student loan forgiveness be on the potential $10,000 your administration has proposed. we need at least $50,000 minimum. what will you do to make that happen? pres. biden: i will not make that happen. it depends on whether or not you go to privat university or

public university. it depends on the idea that i say to community i'm going to forgive the debt, millions of dollars of debt for people who have gone to harvard and yale and penn --i went to a state school. debt forgiven rather than use that money to provide for early education, for young children who come from disadvantaged circumstances. amy: democrats hit back with senators elizabeth warren and majority leader chuck schumer vowing to keep pressing biden, noting both presidents obama and trump used executive authority to cancel student debt. freshman new york congressmember mondaire jones wrote a piece recently in "the new york daily news" detailing his own experience being saddled with student debt after leaving stamford. he wrote -- "canceling $50,000 in student debt is an issue of economic, racial and lgbtq justice." meanwhile, white house press

secretary jen psaki said wednesday biden wouldn't take any executive action until his justice department is installed and reviews the matter, and suggested congress send biden a bill to cancel $10,000 in student debt. for more, we're joined by astra taylor, organizer with the debt collective, who wrote the foreword to their new book "can't pay, won't pay: the case for economic disobedience and debt abolition." astra is also the director of the domentary "you are not a loan." that is loan. and braxton brewington is a digital strategist with the debt collective, working to end the student loan crisis. astra, so this is becoming a major issue right now. it has been for students who have debt. it right now, biden is asked about this and he puts his foot down. your response? cr>> he put his foot down and pt his foot in his mouth in the sense it was a very meandering response. it was very misleading. he seems to be conflating two of

his policies. let's be clear. joe biden ran onto promises. one, cancel $10,000 of student debt across the board for everyone as part of the covid relief package, acknowledging we're in a deadly pandemic. in addition, he ran promising undergraduate debt cancellation for people who aren't up to $125,000 a year who attended specific schools, public colleges of hbcu's. we need to at least hold him to his basic promises. what he did in the rambling response, he invokes straw figures, false scarcity, and not solutions. for example, saying we have to choose between investing and early childhood education and justice for student debtors. these things are not opposed. what i take some encouragement from is his press secretary

clarified some of his remarks and said, as you just shared with us, they are looking into the legal possibilities of executive action. what i see in this is in their mixed messaging that this is very much in play, still a fight,nd we haveo be cle. esident bin has the authority to cancel all student debt. he was not being forthright when he questioned that in his remarks. he h the authority. it was gnted by congress decades ago. he can't erase all federal student loans -- and you should. debtors are not asking for debt forgiveness, we are asking for justice. joe biden, let's be clear, he did not have to graduate with student debt. he talked about his kids and how they had student debt. of his generation was able to go to college and graduate without enormous burden. all people are asking for is parity. to replace this broken system

that he helped create. nermeen: your response to those who suggest canceling student debt through executive action could lead to legal challenges from student loan companies and other firms involved in debt collection. is that correct? these would not be risks if student debt cancellation occurs throug congress. >> legal experts -- i'm relying on eileen connor from harvard law -- that already exists. if you're able to lend money, can not collected. if i lend you $10, i don't have to collective. the vast majority of student loans are held by the federal government. this is the government lending. the government has the right to decide not to collect. there would be some challenges. what i'm hearing from the real experts in the space is these are not major concerns. it is like bring it on, let's fight it out.

at this is not a reason to be cowardly. it is not a reason to rely on congress. we all know how broken our political system is. if biden and his administration have this authority, have this power -- it was granted by congress. we have to be clear not doing so is a choice. there is no limit. it does not have to be $10,000 or $50,000, which is -- the researchers who proposed $50,000 based on thinking about racial justice and other factors have updated their figures so now the people behind $50,000 are saying $75,000. you can cancel all student loan debt and we have to be clear this is a -not doing this is a choice. nermeen: i want to bringraxton brewington into the conversation. can you respond to what i said and talk about your own experience as a student and with that?

>> absolutely. what astra said couldn't be further from the tree. not only is there a choice, is a policy assault. the individuals that would benefit the most from student loan debt are individuals like me, black and brown borrowers, mostly black women borrowers, who frankly have upwards of $35,000, 50,000 dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt that could benefit from this policy. president biden has a unique opportunity to bring together a broad coalition of individuals who otherwise would be unlikely to come together around a policy. we know one in five trump supporters said they would consider supporting joe biden in the election if he were to cancel student debt. we just saw an nbc survey saying 40% of like voters would consider sitting out the next election if joe biden did not consider getting rid of student

loan debt. we also kw nonvoters, great way to bring nonvoters and is to cancel student loan debt. this is a tool that is widely avlable to president biden. him not using executive action to cancel student loan debt is a policy assault on individuals like me who frankly voted for joe biden in hopes of this policy becoming a reality. because we know not only is the student loan debt crisis, but there is a pandemic or people are in perpetual fear of losing their lives most of last thing folks like me need is to be worried about a debt the federal government has proved since march into september that they don't need our payments in order to create revenue for the government to function. amy: talked about your own experience. where did you go to college? what kind of debt did you accrue? what would it mean for it to be forgiven? >> i went to north colina and

he's university, the largest public hbcu in the country. i graduated with two bachelors in journalism and political science. i could tens of thousands of dollars wortof debt. upwards of 35,000 dollars. that is just the debt taken out in my name. my parents were fortunate enough to take out a loan in their name on my behalf. when you accumulate all of that debt, it is more than the debt i had. how is that affected me? luckily chamoli out of college the past couple of years so i have been in deferment. i have not had to make any payments on my student loan debt. if the pandemic did not happen, i would have to start making unders of dollars for the payments. one thing to realize, 40% of people who have student debt don't even have that diploma.

we are expecting people who went to college and for whatever reason did not get their diploma , expecting them to pay the debt when they're getting paid what a high school graduate earns. there are lots of aspects to this as well. this is an intergenerational issue. seniors who can get 15% of their student loan checks -- socia security checks garnished student an deb which is insane. this is an intergenerational issue that affects not only myself and my peers, but seniors and people that i am in community with. i cannot stress enough for joe biden -- we are 30 days into this administration. that is 30 days of a policy failure that president biden has allowed in terms of not canceling student loan debt. amy: astra taylor, i want you to respond to this tweet of alexandria ocasio-cortez. as soon as biden talked about not going to $50,000, she struck

back. among the things she has that is -- "very wealthy people already have a student loan forgiveness program. it is called their parents. the idea that millionaires and billionaires are willingly letting their kids drown in federal student loans and that is why we can't go big unforgiveness is about as silly as it sounds." explain what she is saying and what you see at this point needs to be done. for in 100 you believe with this. >> i was going to quote that tw eet. he painted this portrait that student debt cancellation would lead to cancellation for people who went to harvard and penn. the argument is that student debt cancellation is regressive because the stereotype of affluent ivy league educated people would get relief.

as braxton just laid out, that is not the real demographics of student debt. the children of millionaires and billionaires do not take out debt to go to school. their parents pay the price. they p the price of tuition upfront. that means they pay less overtime because people like braxton have to borrow and their parents borrow money and they pay interest. so people who are poor pay much more for the same degrees over years and decades because that is the way debt works. it hits the people that the least income come the least intergenerational wealth, the most vulnerable. it hits them the hardest. this is why joe biden's framework is deeply flawed. we need to push back and say it is an economic and racial justice issue. it is also a democracy issue because we are all entitled to live in society where our fellow

people can pursue education. we're not going to get a full debt cancellation without organizing and pushing joe biden. he is famously the senator from delaware, the credit card capital of the world. he helped create this crisis and made it harder for student debtors to get relief. we have organized a student debt struggles of the biden jubilee 100, 1 hundred striker symbolizing his first 100 days, demanding justice. we invite people to go to debtcollective.org to sign up for events and upcoming protests to push this administration to use the power they possess to do the right thing and start to enact is fdr-sized presidency we have been promised and we do not seem to be getting. amy: astra taylor, thank you for being with us, organizer with the debt collective and author of the foreword to their new book "can't pay, won't pay: the case for economic disobedience and debt abolition." and braxton brewington, digital strategist with the debt

collective. thank you for being with us. before we ended today, i want to take note of this year post nermeen, it is your 10th anniversary with democracy now! it is amazing to be on ts journey with you. it coincides with democracy now!'s 25th anniversary. we will do much more on that tomorrow. it has been such an honor and education for me, learning from you, for this decade. nermeen: thank you so much, an. it is be such an extraordinary privilege for me working with you and working at democracy now! i have learned more from you and from all of my colleagues than i could possibly express. thank you. amy: we're going to go, a snippet, we will play a whole hour tomorrow of democracy now! over the years, but ur years ago when trump was elected, he

opposed e musliman. one of his first acts in office. you raced to jfk airport where massive protest was goingn and filed this report. nermeen: we're outside new york city john f. kennedy airport come outside terminal 4 where thousands of people have gathered to protest the trump administration's executive order, which has prevented any people from seven muslim majority countries from entering the united states. more than 10 of them here detained at terminal 4. thousands of people here are chanting "let them in. this is what democracy looks like, and refugees welcome here." let's talk to some of the people here. >> as a muslim woman, i find

this an extremely -- this is personal because i have family members who are on visa and now they are at risk of not been able to leave or enter the country. nermeen: what are your concerns for muslims who are here in the u.s. under the trump administration? >> all of my muslims brothers and sisters, there's nothing to fear. your actions are more important. keep doing what you're doing. we are going to be unapologetic muslims. amy: and that was nermeen shaikh at jfk airport right after president trump was elected and imposed the muslim ban. rmeen, i can't wait's been so many more years with you here at

democracy now! together here in studio when this pandemic ends. nermeen: me, too. i miss being there. amy: can't wait. tomorrow, and a hour on

♪ hello. welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. we begin in myanmar where citizens opposing the military takeover are continuing their protests. britain and canada have announced new sanctions on the country's military leaders for their roles in the coup following similar measures taken by the united states. the british government on thursday said it was imposing travel bansnd