tv Democracy Now LINKTV February 24, 2021 4:00pm-4:11pm PST
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02/24/21 02/24/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> confirmed, i would be the first native american to serve as cabinet secretary. the historic nature of my confirmation is not lost on me but i will say it is not about me most of rather, i hope this nomination would be an inspiration for americans moving forward together as one nation and creating opportunities for all of us.
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amy: interior secretary nominee deb haaland testifies before the senate in her bid to become the first native american cabinet secretary in u.s. history. but she faced harsh questioning from senators over her past criticism of fossil fuel projects. we will speak to native american journalist julian brave noisecat . then we go to a refugee camp on the u.s. border in matamoros, mexico, where asylum seekers have had to brave freezing weather while living in tents as -- and we will also look at the biden adnistration's reversal of trump's remain in mexico policy. >> we remember when we arrived to the immigration office in mexico. they did not give us a place to sleep or anything to eat. we slept on the floor that night. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine
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report. i'm amy goodman. top u.s. capitol security officials blamed intelligence failures and each other for the deadly january 6 insurrection as they were questioned tuesday by lawmakers. this is former capitol police chief steven sund. >> no entity, including the fbi, provided intelligence regarding january 6. you should be noted the secretary of homeland security did not issue an elevated or eminent alert in reference to the events at the united states capitol on january 6. we properly planned from estimates ration with possible violence. what we got was a military style coordinated assault. amy: sund resigned after the january 6 attack, as did house sergeant-at-arms paul irving and senate sergeant-at-arms michael stenger, who all said tuesday they did not see a warning sent by the fbi on january 5 that
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violent extremists were calling for war against congress. the report quoted an online thread that read "be ready to fight." "congress needs to hear glass breaking, endorsement been kicked in, and blood from their blm and slave soldiers being spilled. get violent. stop calling this a march or rally or a protest. go there ready for war. we get our president or we die." the capitol police however issued its own intelligence report warning of a possible attack three days before january 6. meanwhile, robert contee, acting head of the washington police department, said the defense department was to blame for the slow deployment of national guard members. >> there was not an immediate yes the national guard is on the way. the response was more focused on
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in addition to the plan of the opticshow this looks, boots on the ground, on the capitol. my response to that was, simply, i was stunned. i have officers out there literally fighting for their lives. amy: in other news from washington, d.c., the senate confirmed linda thomas-greenfield to be the ambassador to the united nations and tom vilsack as agriculture secretary tuesday. environmental and labor activists say they will pressure vilsack to enact better policies than in his previous tenure at the usda. food & water watch said -- "this administration needs to drastically shift course by supporting sustainable, independent farming, halting the toxic expansion of polluting factory farms, and ultimately prioritizing consumer health and worker safety." meanwhile, interior secretary nominee deb haaland faced harsh questioning from republin
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senators tuesday, who questioned her about her opposition to fracking, pipelines, and fossil fuel development. this is congressmember haaland. >> there is no question that fossil energy does and will continue to play a major role in america for years to come. i know how important oil and gas revenues are to critical services, that we must also recognize the energy industry is innovating and our climate challenge must baddressed. amy: if confirmed, deb haaland will be the first native american to serve in a cabinet position. we'll have more on her hearing after headlines with native american journalist julian brave noisecat. in other cabinet news, health and human services secretary nominee xavier becerra faced questis from republicans over his support of reproductive rights. he responded to a question by indiana senator mike braun on whether he would use taxpayer
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money to fund abortion services. >> while we probably will not agree all of the issues, i can say we will definitely follow the law when it comes to the use of federal resources. i can make the commitment we will follow the law. amy: he was also questioned about his support of the affordable care act and former attorney general of california. the house will vote friday to pass the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. the bill's inclusion of a $15-an-hour minimum wage increase remains at risk in the senate though as moderates joe manchin of west virginia and arizona's kyrsten sinema oppose the move. manchin instead proposed an increase to just $11 an hour. consumer advocacy group public citizen is calling on the u.s. to agree to a temporary waiver on intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines. the u.s. is blocking an
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international move to waive wto rules, which require countries guarantee drug companies' monopoly control -- monopoly control and contributes to vaccine nationalism. as of last week, 130 countries had not yet received a single vaccine dose. in lebanon, scandal has erupted and the world bank threatened to suspend financing for the country's vaccination program after a group of lawmakers received shots inside the parliament building, ahead of people who were registered on priority lists. over 200 members of the rabbinical human rights organization truah are calling on the israeli government to distribute coronavirus vaccines to palestinians, citing the moral and legal imperative to vaccinate all residents of the occupied territories. a warning to our audience, the next three headlines contain descriptions of violence.
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in new york, a grand jury has decided not to file charges against the rochester police officers involved in the death of daniel prude. prude died last march from asphyxiation after officers handcuffed him while he was naked, put a hood over his head, then pushed his face into the freezing cold ground for two minutes while kneeling on his back. new york attorney general letitia james, whose office led the investigation, denounced the decision saying her office had presented "the most comprehensive case possible." in a statement, james said tuesday -- "daniel prude was in the throes of a mental health crisis and what he needed was compassion, care, and help from trained professionals. tragically, he received none of those things." in georgia, the mother of ahmaud arbery, the 25-year-old black man who was chased down and shot
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to death while out for a jog, has filed a multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit against the white men who killed her son. the lawsuit also accuses law enforcement officials and local prosecutors of attempting to cover up evidence during the investigation. the suit was filed on the first anniversary of ahmaud arbery's killing as people around the country marked his memory by going on a run and using the hashtag #runwithmaud. in california, a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of angelo quinto -- a 30-year-old navy veteran who died in december after police officers kneeled on his neck -- has revealed gruesome details about his death. quinto was reportedly suffering a mental health crisis when his family called 911 for help. antioch police officers who arrived at the scene restrained quinto by the legs and kneeled on the back of his neck for
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nearly five minutes while he was handcuffed. his mother said he pleaded, "please don't kill me. please don't kill me." quinto lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital where he died three days later. the antioch police department revealed few details of quinto's death for weeks, but his family launched their own investigation. in india, a court has granted bail to 22-year-old climate activist disha ravi. she was arrested last weekend and accused of sedition for sharing a document tweeted by swedish climate activist greta thunberg with information on how to support the ongoing farmworkers' protest. the judge said the case against ravi had "scanty and sketchy evidence." in niger, mohamed bazoum was declared the winner of the presidential election. the former interior minister beat out ex-president mahamane ousmane, who alleged fraud but did not provide any evidence.
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