tv Democracy Now LINKTV January 5, 2023 8:00am-9:01am PST
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01/05/23 01/05/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> this is a toxic environment. the international community has to speak with one voice in rejecting this extremism and ejecting those terrorists and those relevance of fascist in the israeli government. amy: the united nations security
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council is preparing to hold an emergency meeting today, just days after israel's new far-right national security minister itamar ben-gvir visited the al-aqsa mosque in occupied east jerusalem, sparking outrage across the middle east. we will look at what benjamin netanyahu's new far right government means for the future of palestine with palestinian attorney diana buttu in ramallah and israeli journalist gideon levy in tel aviv then to the chaos in the u.s. house of representatives. >> november having received a majority of the number of votes cast, a speaker has not been elected. amy: the house of representatives remains without a house speaker as far-right republicans of continue to block kevin mccarthy. kevin mccarthy has lost six rounds of voting so far. how long will the standstill last? we will speak to representative-elect greg casar
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of texas. he, like all members of the house, cannot be sworn in and tell a speaker is elected. we will also talk to the intercept's ryan grim. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the house of representatives has adjourned for second consecutive day without swearing in members of the 118 congress after lawmakers once again failed to elect a new house speaker. on wednesday, the house held three more rounds of voting. in each one, republican leader kevin mccarthy failed to muster the 218 votes needed after 20 members of his party instead backed byron donalds of florida. until the speaker selected, the house cannot perform any other actions or swear in any congressmember.
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mississippi commerce member trent kelly joined other republicans calling on members of his party's far right freedom caucus to drop their opposition to mccarthy. >> we have asked and asked, what is it you want? what do you need? but you have 20 people demanding the unconditional surrender, including this group of lawyers. tell us what you want. we might surrender if you tell us the terms. adjust the you know, we are in the strong position. -- just so you know, we are in the strunk position. amy: after headlines, we will speak with greg casar of texas who still waiting to be sworn in as is every other congressmember. in california, governor gavin newsom has declared a state of emergency and ordered evacuations as a cyclone slammed into the bay area wednesday night with hurricane-force winds and torrential downpours. california's second major storm this week is expected to wreak
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havoc across the state, including flooding, landslides, and dangers winds. a young child was killed in sonoma couy when a tree fell on the family home. over 180,000 customers had lost power by early this morning. this is a resident of santa cruz county in northern california. >> we get home last night and the first thing we did was take our stuff off the floor, all of the important stuff, gather it, get some luggage ready just in case. and sandbags for the possible evacuation. amy: california has been experiencing a series of extreme weather events known as atmospheric rivers, which have been described as rivers in the sky, unleashing unrelenting storms. scientists say climate change will continue to increase the intensity of these storms.
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in the occupied west bank, israeli forces have shot and killed a palestinian teen during a raid on the city of nablus. the palestinian health ministry reports 16-year-old amer abu zaytoon was the fourth palestinian child killed by israeli forces since the start of the new year. elsewhere, israel's military has begun demolishing homes, water supplies, and olive orchards in the community of masafer yatta in the occupied west bank. this week, israeli armored vehicles accompanied demolition crews as they razed homes and farms in two villages. last year, the israeli high court of justice approved the home demolitions which will uproot more than 1000 people. in washington, d.c., palestinian-american congressmember rashida tlaib tweeted -- on "not even one week into 2023, israel's new far-right apartheid government is moving to ethnically cleanse
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entire communities -- which would displace more than 1000 palestinian residents, including 500 children. all with american backing, bulldozers, and bullets." the anglican church has expressed dismay over an attack on a christian cemetery close to jerusalem's walled old city. security camera footage taken on new year's day shows two men entering the graveyard, toppling a cross-shaped tombstone and smashing it to pieces. more than 30 grave sites were damaged. jerusalem's anglican archbishop called the desecration a clear hate crime carried out by jewish -- by "jewish extremists." the incident came days after israel swore in the most far-right government in its history, led by ultra-religious and ultranationalist members. palestinian ambassador riyad mansour addressed the incident at the united nations on wednesday. >> you have seen by now that there are crosses over, you know, graveyards, trampled upon and attacked by extreme
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settlers. this is a toxic environment. the international community has to speak with one voice in rejecting this extremism and rejecting those terrorists and those elements of fascists in the israeli government. amy: the u.n. security council has scheduled an emergency meeting at the request of the u.n.'s palestinian delegation, after israel's new national security minister, the ultranationalist politician itamar ben-gvir, visited the al-aqsa mosque in occupied east jerusalem. in washington, d.c., u.s. state department spokesperson ned price was critical of ben-gvir's visit, which other nations have condemned as a "provocative act." >> we stand firmly for preservation of the historic status quo with respect to the holy sites in jerusalem, any ilateral action apart from that stus quo is an acceptable . amy: back in the united states, newly released documents reveal
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the pentagon's top general had to dissuade senior trump administration officials from attempting to court-martial retired military officers who wrote editorials critical of donald trump. that is one of dozens of new revelations from testimony by joint chiefs chair general mark milley to the house january 6 committee made public this week in a 300-page transcript. among other elevations, millie ordered his staff to -- preserve what he called boatloads of documents after the january 6 the tech for future investigation. and general mark really told congress their indications trump was concert -- contemplating issuing unlawful orders to the military. the european regulator has said meta-illegally forced users to accept personalized ads. meta is appealing wednesday's ruling, which ordered the social
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media giant to pay $414 milln in fines and to allow customers to opt out of so-called behavioral ads. meanwhile, twitter said wednesday it will once again allow political advertisements after former ceo jack dorsey banned all political ads on twitter worldwide in 2019. this comes as twitter's new owner elon musk struggles to retain advertisers and after twitter recently relaxed its covid-19 misinformation policy and restored the accounts of thousands of banned twitter users. amazon's ceo has announced plans to cut more than 18,000 jobs. they're the largest layoffs in amazon's history, representing some 6% of the retail giant's 300,000 workers. meanwhile, salesforce announced plans to lay off 10% of its work force. u.s. tech companies cut more than 150,000 jobs in 2022. president biden said he will visit the u.s.-mexico border
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next week as part of his trip to mexico. it will be biden's first visit to the border since taking office and comes amid mounng fallout from the extension of the trump-era title 42 by the supreme court, as republicans challenge the policy, which has been used to expel over 2 million people at the border since march 2020. biden is expected to focus on securing the u.s. southern border, leading to fears of further militarization and abuses against asylum seekers. thousands of migrants have sought asylum in mexico in recent weeks over fears the u.s. would keep title 42 in place. this is an asylum seeker from honduras. >> some of us came here pregnant since the honduran economy cannot support our youth. what we want is asylum in the united states, to go to a shelter that can support a so our families in the u.s. can help us with the little that
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they have. amy: in other immigration news, canada added a record 431,000 new permanent residents last year. immigrant residents make up nearly all of canada's labor-force growth. prime minister justin trudeau's government is seeking to add half a million new permanent residents in 2025. president biden met with the family of hospitalized nfl player damar hamlin in cincinnati wednesday after the buffalo bills star suffered a cardiac arrest on the field during a game monday. hamlin remains in critical condition in an icu at the university of cincinnati medical center. on wednesday, president biden was asked by a reporter if the nfl was getting too dangerous. pres. biden: i don't know how you avoid it. working with the helmets, concussion protocol makes sense. you know, it is dangerous. we have to acknowledge it.
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amy: a federal judge in boston has sentenced the mastermind of a college admissions scam to years in prison over a scheme 3.5 where wealthy parents paid exorbitant bribes to secure spots for their unqualified children in prestigious universities. in some cases, photos were staged or doctored to make the teenagers seem like accomplished athletes. william "rick" singer received the sentence wednesday, nearly three years after he pleaded guilty to criminal charges including racketeering, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. singer's clients included hollywood stars felicity huffman and lori loughlin, and bill mcglashan, a founder of tpg capital, one of the largest private equity investment firms in the world. here in neyork, thousands of uber drivers are on a 20 for our strike today, demanding the right helen corporation dropped its lawsuit aimed at stopping a pay raise approved by the taxi and the missing commission. drivers were said to have been cheated out of 12 main dollars have paid in late december after
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cooper refused to implement pay races that were supposed to go into effect. and in other news from new york, the nypd is facing new backlash after officers escorted members of the far-right proud boys to a subway station, apparently helping them evade their fares after they sought to disrupt a "drag story hour," a popular reading event for children, at a queens library in late 2022. >> proud boys don't have to pay for their fares? proud boys don't have to pay for the fares? that is insane. proud boys don't have to pay for their fares. i have to pay but they don't? is that what you're saying? amy: new york city authorities have been cracking down on fare evasion, flooding subway stations with police, and leading to assaults on passengers and arrests. in related news, a police officer has been suspended after a video emerged of him beating a
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teenage girl near a staten island middle school tuesday. police say the attack occurred after two officers attempted to break up a fight among a group of girls. on wednesday, new york mayor eric adams, himself a former police captain, said he was not pleased with what he saw in the video. but mayor adams claimed new yorkers continue trust the police. >> i don't care who you are, you could be the staunchest critic of a police officer but you know three numbers in the city, 911. and you are happy when they pull up. you are happy to see them late at night. you are happy if your child is out somewhere knowing they are the street. these incidents are not going to erode the relationship that people of the city have with the men and women of new york city police department. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. coming up, the u.n. security council is planning to hold an emergency meeting on israel just
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amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman, joined by my co-host nermeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. nermeen: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: the united nations security council is preparing to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the recent visit by israel's new national security minister itamar ben-gvir to the al-aqsa mosque in occupied east jerusalem. his visit was condemned across the middle east. the palestinian foreign ministry called his visit an unprecedented provocation.
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the militant group hamas warned ben-gvir's actions could lead to more conflict. jordan has summoned israel's ambassador to protest the visit with jordan's foreign ministry decrying it as scandalous and an unacceptable violation of international law. al-aqsa mosque is one of the holiest sites in islam. it is also one of the holiest sites of a jewish temple destroyed by the romans 2000 years ago. on wednesday, palestinian's ambassador to the united nations riyad mansour condemned itamar ben-gvir's visit. >> the attack is not only against our holy sites in al-aqsa, there are because of this environmental extremism that this israeli stream government, the extremist in the history of israel is providing come is leading to additional aggression against our aggression sites aggression
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graveyards. you have seen by now that there are crosses over, you know, graveyards being trampled upon and attacked by extreme settlers. this is a toxic environment. the international community has to speak with one voice in rejecting this extremism and rejecting those terrorists and those elements of fascists in the israeli government. amy: itamar ben-gvir's visit to the al-aqsa mosque came just days after he was sworn in as part of benjamin netanyahu's new far right government, which includes ultranationalist and ultraorthodox parties that are calling openly for the annexation of the west bank. netanyahu's selection of itamar ben-gvir as his national security minister has sparked widespread condemnation. in 2007, ben-gvir was convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization. ben-gvir lives in an illegal
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settlement in the occupied west bank. in 2021, he relocated his parliamentary office to the sheikh jarrah neighborhood of jerusalem, where settlers have attempted to violently evict palestinian residents from their homes. for years, ben-gvir hung a picture in his home of baruch goldstein, an israeli american who killed 29 palestinians at a mosque in hebron in 1994. the jerusalem post's editor-in-chief described ben-gvir as "the modern israeli version of an american white supremacist and a european fascist." ben-gvir will now be responsible for border police in the occupied west bank at a time when violence and the killing of palestinians has been surging. to talk more about itamar ben-gvir's visit to the al-aqsa mosque and israel's new far-right government, we are joined by two guests.
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in tel aviv is gideon levy, an award-winning israeli journalist and author. columnist for the newspaper haaretz and a member of its editorial board. he's also the author of the book "the punishment of gaza." and in ramallah, we are joined by diana buttu. she is a palestinian lawyer and former adviser to the negotiating team of the palestine liberation organization. also a fellow at democracy for the arab world now, or dawn. her latest piece is an op-ed in the new york times headlined "israelis have put benjamin netanyahu back in power. palestinians will surely pay the price." we welcome you both to democracy now! diana buttu, let's begin with you. let's start with this latest action, considered an incitement by so many -- both palestinian's and israelis not to mention the wrath of the middle east. talk about who itamar ben-gvir. he wasn't just charged with
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incitement of racism against arabs, he was convicted of it and supporting a terrorist organization. >> yes, itamar ben-gvir is a disciple, a follower of a man who believed that palestinians should be acting cleansed from their homelands. itamar ben-gvir has espoused the same views and continues to espouse the same views. he has talked openly about his support for goldstein and his latest visit to the al-aqsa mosque compound is not just a visit, it is an attempt to show there will forever be israeli sovereignty on the al-aqsa mosque and he is trying to incite violence. not only is he trying to incite violence, he has long believed the al-aqsa mosque should disappear and in its place the temple mount the re-created.
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so his policies have always been that of inciting to violence, inciting hatred. only convicted once, but he has an indicted more than 50 times. the fact he is allowed to be a minister in this government just shows how much it is the international community is allowing fascism to reign and therefore actively doing nothing. although we have heard -- all we have heard is the world supports the status quo. but it is that status quo that has led people like itamar ben-gvir being able to become minister and the actions being normalized. i fear what he intends to do is create more and more violence as a pretext to once and for all, as he put it, showing palestinians who the master is of the house are. those are his words, not mine. nermeen: gideon levy, could you also respond to ben-gvir's appointment as national security
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minister and in particular his appointment to this post? >> benjamin netanyahu is leading the biggest party. he decided this time to go with the most extreme right winger. the queson is, why those right-wingers are so popular in israel? and here we face a reality which is well known. the israeli society is a very right-wing and part of it racist society. we have to face this. that is the main problem. whether ben-gvir is minister or not. the problem is, whaare we facing? in many ways, i see also poverty --
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now we see a reality. this almost the same like the right-wingers, now face extreme racism in its most -- expression. those people don't deny the racism. those people -- jewish supremacy means only jews have rights to land. i hope both israeli society and the international community will finally draw the conclusion. nermeen: gideon levy, that is right, these far right parties have received this kind of support almost 11% in this election, but that is much higher than in the past. could you explain why you think these far right hardline extremist parties are more
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popular now in israel than they have been in the past? >> if you continue with the ocpation, supported -- that only supported, but led, and this reality over the apartheid state continues, and calls for extremists. it calls for telling the jews, it calls for telling -- saying we aim to be in an apartheid state, the occupation is not temporary, the occupation is here to stay. and if it is here to stay, it means we are -- we are not ashamed of it. after 56 years of occupation, you can't expect anything but this radical movement while the
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zionist left never tries to separate itself from the occupation step never tried seriously to put an end to it. so if there is no other -- the israeli power, let's go for the extreme. nermeen: diana, talk about the shift in the israeli policy for the to the right and the role the left has played -- you wrote a recent piece headlined -- >> get it is right. there has been a so-called left inside israel for some time but this so-called left, i say so-called because they self proclaim as left-wing but this is a left-wing that has never stood up against the occupation, a left-wing that has supported the various attacks on the gaza
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strip, and left-wing that is supported the siege of blockade on the gaza strip. it is a left-wing that has supported the enactment of racist legislation. even in theast couple of years. so when you are an israeli voter who sees the options are between the so-called left-wing, which has supported the exact same things as the right wing has, then of course it is natural they're going to vote for this fascist right. the big problem is we have never seen that israelis have paid the price for their electoral choice, it is always been the palestinians. it is going to be the palestinians once again but even more than in the past. unlike previous israeli governments where there were other issues they may have been focused on, this current government, this new government is myopically and only focused on making life miserable for palestinians. they don't have any other political platform other than to try to ethnically cleanse
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palestinians. this is why since the beginning of this year that israel has killed at least one palestinian per day and why we are seeing the plan to completely ethnically cleanse the palestinian town -- because his government has put in its crosshairs palestinians and given there's nobody in the international community that is stopping them, it is going to continue. my head. amy: let me ask you about the city near have written, the southern part come israel's military has begun demolishing homes, water supplies, orchards. this week, israeli armored vehicles accompanied demolition teams as they razed homes and farms in two villages. last year, the israeli high court of justice approved the home demolitions which will uproot more than 1000 people. leading to the u.s. congressmember who happens to be palestinian have american, rashida tlaib tweeting, "not even one week in 2023,
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talk about the u.s. support at this point for israel. you have president biden congratulating netanyahu on his return to power saying he looks forward to working with an old friend for decades, adding, the united states will continue to support the two state solution and to oppose policies that endanger its viability or contradict our mutual interest and values. you talk about what you feel -- i would also like getting's response to this -- the u.s. should be doing now? >> the u.s. is way behind in the times. if they still think there's something left of a two state solution, that it is only in their dreams.
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we certainly don't see it on the ground. instead what we have seen is israel has been allowed to do whatever it wants when it comes to killing palestinians, when it comes to ethnic cleansing. when it comes to crossing the red lines that are enshrined in international law, israel is allowed to get away with it. not only get away with it, but continues to receive support and financial support from the united states as well. this isn't just a question of statements. there also getting financial support from the united states. as we look around the world and ask ourselves, now you're 2023 and they're still talking about a two state solution? a two state solution that died more than two decades ago? they have done absolutely nothing on the ground to make sure that two state solution comes to fruition. all they have done is facilitate israel's process of slowly ethnically cleansing palestinians. one of the new members of this
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new government came out in 2021 and said the only reason palestinians were citizens of israel are still allowed to exist is because the job was finished in 1948. there basically telling us our time here is short. what do u.s. has done is instead of giving them a red light and scaling back and to colonizing and pushing for israel to end its occupation, end its apartheid, it has served as a mask for israel to continue to do whatever it once to do. this is why we are in the situation now. we have seen the world is doing nothing. we see the israelis as a result don't have to pay a price. once again it will be palestinians that pay the price for israel's electoral choices. amy: gideon levy, if you could
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talk about the response of the israeli population, for example, to these demolitions? >> let's face reality. the united states is supporting the apartheid system. it is very interested in continuing the occupation and has no interest in human rights of the palestinians. there is no other way to describe the american positions throughout the decades. because what it be different, with united states seriously need to put an end to the occupation -- the occupation could have come to an end years ago, if not decades ago. it is hollow lipservice of the united states paying -- condemnations. by the end of the day, israel,
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this apartheid state, is the closest ally of the united states. the mud at the taxpayers of the united states go to israel more than any other country and had the world, and this means united states is in favor of an apartheid state. nothing else but this. your second question, the question about the israeli action to what is going on. it can only be asked in the united states. in israel, nobody cares. [indiscernible] maybe to a small devoted left camp that is still active but most of the israelis could not care less. ey nevereard about it.
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if they did hear about it, they would just yawn in your face. finally, they all by the official propaganda, namely israel is jamaicans tear -- is mainly doing against terror. a slogan for lies and lies and lies. nermeen: could you outline what you expect to see, the policies this new government will initiate from substantive changes to the judiciary as well as restrictions on civil liberties within israel itself? and of course what we said in our introduction, the steps toward the annexation of the west bank? >> as we talk now, the supreme court of israel is dealing with some of the first actions and the supreme court will try to stop them but the supreme court
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by itself will be a subject of attacks by this new government who's going to limit the legal system very much and he quickly. it is really -- to see how fast while the left did nothing, they not yet one week in power and running with the initiatives. your about annexation. i can tell you, it is my private view, i really hope they will and ask -- annex part of the west bank if not all of the west bank. it was annexed to five years ago. the west bank -- behave in west bank as if it is part of israel.
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clearly and officially, then it will -- and the apartheid state is declared. israel annexate -- once this has happened, israel declares itself an apartheid state. then i would like to see how washington and the eu and others will react to an official declaration of apartheid. will they treat it like the first apartheid state in south africa or will they continue to hold israel as an ally of the west even though it has declared an apartheid state? nermeen: diana, could respond to the points that gideon has made?
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also, have written a great deal in a recent article both about the settler violence against palestinians and israeli 60 forces complicit in that violence -- security forces partially complicitness in that violence. and then what gideon said about apartheid. >> it is already an apartheid state. i don't need for israel to declare it an apartheid state. they already know it is an apartheid state. my fear always is, what is going to happen to people on the grou and whether israe and access or they don't annex, the result of the palestinians are the same come that israel is containing this process of land theft, kicking people off their land, turning palestinians into people who are homeless, and killing them as well. this has long been its system. it is not just the israeli state, not just the army, but
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also the israeli settlers. we have already seen it is all of these years with all of these attacks that have been conducted by israeli settlers against palestinians that rarely, if ever, is an israeli settler prosecuted for their crimes. or rarely even charge for their crimes much less see a full conviction. this is because israel has turned a blind eye toward violence that it perpetrates against palestinians. again, i don't expect anything differently from the israeli state nor do i expect anything different from israeli settlers. that is the reason for being. what i would have expected is somehow the world community would have stood up and done something differently and begin to hold israel accountable for its actions. would have held the israeli state and soldiers and someone. instead, we don't see it. for example, this past year, a palestinian-american journalist shireen, also a friend, was
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murdered by israeli forces. debt was probably the most investigated death i've ever seen in all of my years of living here in palestine. from everything from cnn to ap to the new york times to ngos and so on. yet to this current day we still don't see anybody has been held to account even though we know it is an israeli soldier who shot and killed her. this is what it means to be living as a palestinian, are always living in the space where your lives mean absolutely nothing and your life could be extinguished at any moment, whether that happens at the hands of an israeli soldier, settler, or whether your land and homes are demolished by the israeli government. that is what it means to be living as a palestinian. amy: i want to encourage people to go to our website democracynow.org where we
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interviewed democracy now! correspondent sharif abdel kouddous who did a special about shireen. diana buttu, inc. you for being with us, palestinian lawyer and former adviser to the negotiating team of the palestine liberation organization. we will link to your piece in the new york times "israelis , have put benjamin netanyahu back in power. palestinians will surely pay the price." and gideon levy, israeli journalist columnist for the , newspaper haaretz and a member of its editorial board. coming up, the house of representatives is it right now because without a house speaker, no congressmember can be sworn in. we will look at the far right republicans continuing to block kevin mccarthy's attempts to become speaker and did he in a sense open the door i supporting
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amy: "too much pressure" by the selecter. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. congressional chaos. yes, we go now to capitol hill where the house of representatives remains without a house speaker following a rebellion by far right republicans who have blocked republican leader kevin mccarthy's attempt to become speaker. on wednesday, the house held three more rounds of votes and in each one mccarthy failed to win the needed 218 votes to become speaker, even the republicans hold a slim majority in the house. until a speaker is, the house
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cannot perform any other actions. in fact, members of a new congress, all of them, more than 400 of them, have not even been sworn in yet. in the fifth and sixth rounds of voting, 20 republicans backed byron donalds florida over mccarthy. the leader of the democrats and it has hakeem jeffries has so far received the most votes and each round caucus supports them. >> total of number of votes cast is 433. of which the honorable hakeem jeffries of the state of new york has received 212. [applause] the honorable kevin mccarthy of the state has received 201. [applause]
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the honorable byron donalds of the state of florida is received 20. [applause] with one recorded as present. no member elect having received a majority of the votes cast, speaker has not been elected post of america in a moment, we will go to capitol hill to speak with representative-elect greg casar of texas, who is still waiting to be sworn in. on wednesday, he appeared on a light instagram video with near congas member alexandria ocasio-cortez. >> what's up? >> how's it going? >> we have greg casar here. we're just kind of sitting here because -- >> i was supposed to become a member of congress but we're still waiting. >> he was supposed to have been sworn in for the first time yesterday. i was supposed to have been sworn in, i can't believe it, the third time.
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my god. >> got to agree new deal. >> i put in a call and said everyone is getting a green new deal pin. according to the far right, the left wing of the party -- just wanted to say hey to everyone because we are just sitting here and it is a total mess right now. no speaker of the house. >> keep thinking somebody is going to tell me what is going to happen. there are hundreds of members of congress. i'm like, what is happening? they are, we don't know. this is how the government is run. amy: that is democratic commerce member-elect greg casar as well as alexandria ocasio-cortez on any instagram feed. but right now the congressmember-elect greg casar is joining us from the canon rotunda. he is a former labor organizer at austin city couilmember and also with as is ryan, d.c.
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bureau chief for the intercept. greg casar, this is been quite an initiation for you. in a way, the house of representatives does not exist right now because you need to have a house speaker before anyone of them, more than 400 congress members, are sworn in. talk about your view from right there as you sit there, what is taking place. explain to us what you understand is happening with mccarthy and his right flank. >> good morning. in some ways it is flabbergasted as you saw with my conversation with alexandria ocasio-cortez. on the other hand, it is not that surprising. there were so many members who have any for decades -- this has not happened in century. my view is we should have seen this coming because kevin mccarthy and republicans come atop republicans and in the house have essentially been putting gas in the tank at this kind of republican extremism and division for so long that of
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course this isn't just a tactic, this is part of their goal. they don't want to function government that can pass legislation and support working people, they want to drag us further to the right or even not have a congress in the first place. nermeen: greg, could you explain who are the hardline far right conservatives who are holding up the selection of a house speaker, the election of a house speaker? >> you have essentially the most trump part of the republican party, some are real true believers in what i believe in authoritarian form of government. what i want to do is essentially change the rules of the house in their favor so they can push the republican party further and further to the right. they're making arguments how they want a more democratic process but ultimately, it seems to be a process they want to have more power for themselves
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that continues to drag the government to the right. kevin mccarthy to them is essentially too much of a liberal, even though he is ultimately of the extreme right of this country and, frankly, extreme right for a politician in the world. it is quite a thing to see as they continue to embrace authoritarianism and division. we try to stay united and are trying to build a positive vision for the country and try to show folks we are going to hopefully be interested in a governing if we take back the house in two years. amy: is it true democrats are eating popcorn, watching the show? >> i wish i knew where the popcorn stands were. apart from the fact we could laugh some about them sorta being dashed by the monster they created. on the other hand, it is terrifying that we don't have united states congress and despite how the media does show there is division, we are also hearing their speeches a lot of
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unity around moving the country further to the right, whether your mccarthy person or i never mccarthy republican, they continued to give speeches about vilifying asylum-seekers and refugees and immigrants and poor, black, and brown people. in many ways they are unified around this platform and that is really a scary thing. amy: let me ask you as you were there with aoc, there's a lot of criticism that the squad has and other progressives of hakeem jeffries, but you all have been unified in voting for him as house speaker. again, he is the first black lawmaker to be voted house speaker nominee. but the significance of this and you share the criticism? august lee, you voted for him as well. >> that is correct. i believe as a longtime labor organizer and somebody that has
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worked on a -- there were other democrats and then republicans on that body when i was on city council, i believe you need to use her leverage and continue to negotiate and get the best deal you can get. i believe that will be the work that is happening with speaker jeffries. i agree with him on many issues. there are some issues i believe we can get more progressive legislation and action out of democratic leadership. that is part of the job, for us to each play a role on the team and recognize we need to have leverage on the left. we have been working for months pushing and asking the white house to help us get abortion access in texas via the u.s. postal service. just two days ago, the department of justice finally released an opinion that clear the path for people in blue states to mail abortion pill to places like texas. president biden did not run on a
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hard-core progressive platform, but i believe by continuing doing or organizing work, public pressure, creating alliances, we can get important worked on whether there is a house for the next few days or not. nermeen: ryan grim, you've been there reporting on these extraordinary events. if you could talk about your response to what has been happening and these republicans who are holding things up, these far right republican extremists? >> i think that piece the media has been missing so far is the substance of the fight being waged right now. it is really about social spending, particularly about social security, medicare -- yesterday ralph norman from south carolina told reporters in the hallway that the think kevin mccarthy needs to agree to to win their support, nonnegotiable, he needs to be willing to shut the government down rather than raise the debt ceiling. that is a frightening statement
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on a number of levels. on the top level it is frightening because it is a complete misunderstanding of how government works. relationship between a government shutdown and hitting the debt ceiling. one report immediately said come evening going into default? he said, well you wouldn't go into default if you start writing now, stop spending money among various agencies so we could avoid that, but that is a complete fantasy. there is no path that gets you out of -- it is simply incredible he would suggest something like that. the only remedy is seems like at this point that the executive has is to say, look, the debt ceiling is not constitutional. congress appropriated money come it is the executive's job to spend th money. we are just not going to pay attention to the debt ceiling anymore. and then punted over to the supreme court and asked the supreme court to put the country to global default. which i don't think they would
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do because it would undermine the real mission, the mission of the roberts court is on. that is nothing people are missing, this is all setting up for some titanic fight this summer over the debt ceiling. nermeen: ryan grim, how do you see the stalemate ending? >> i wish i could tell you. i feel like a fraud of here. i've been covering congers for 15 years or whatever now and like congressman elect casar was saying, nobody really knows. the right is feeling their oaths right now. talking to sources on the right there like, look, mccarthy is toast. he had a long time to work with these members, to win their support and he didn't. they are all trashing him saying he does not trust them. his alies are calling him a narcissist.
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on the other hand you have a bunch of mccarthy supporters saying we are pushing forward. there was a deal cut last night where kevin mccarthy agreed the house republican super pac not go after far right republicans for open red seats, which is something i think the squad should have probably pushed for in 2019, 2021. hey, if you and ou support -- it was a good idea for them will step it will w enough for them to go over and support mccarthy? nobody really knows. amy: explained that further, what the super pac is all in out and apparently overnight, he has agreed to allow just one congressmember to put forward a motion to remove the house speaker. i think he agreed to five before and then the house would vote on it. say the least, holding a gun to
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his head. >> i was thought that was a silly demand because if y're going to get rid of the speaker, are going to need five votes anyway so what is the big deal about one person putting forward a motion to vacate the speaker's chair versus needing five signatures to vacate it? ok, even mccarthy is given into lowering the threshold from five to one. that would not vacate the chair poster but presumably if 70's going to put that forward, they would have the vote at that point. congressional leadership on is basically -- far right republicans. the dccc had gone after over the years. what the far right was able to extract from him here is growth, which the left doesn't have a billionaire fund, super pac saying, look, we will let these
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primaries play out and we are not going to get involved with those. amy: i wanted to ask greg casar as we talk about divisions within the democratic party about president biden announcing he is going to visit the u.s.-mexico border next week as part of his trip to mexico next week. it will be his first visit to the border since taking office. the images on the border, both sides, you have whereas come el paso, people freezing under blankets. title 42, the biden administration has kind of wanted to remove the pandemic policy that has prevented millions from applying for political asylum in the united states still is in place because of the supreme court. what do you want to see happen this next week? and will you be going to th border with him? >> i hope i am installed as a member of congress and get to get out of do you see and back
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to texas to work with my constituents in my district. i believe it is really important for the president to be there and for the truth to be spoken about what is going on on the border because so much of the fear mongering -- we heard on the house floor yesterday these are criminals. it is like when president trump came down saying they are raping. there are many and dire need. i know our country and our economy will be so much stronger and we are all better off when immigrants are welcomed in this country and supported. the federal government should provide support necessary to the relatively small overall number of people that have been displaced and are hungry, that are coming here to make our country and everybody's lives here better off. that is what makes texas a great place and into first place. i think the president being there, i think it will give -- i
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think it can touch our hearts and help us do the right thing. amy: finally, ryan grim, can you tell us who byron donalds is, the african-american republican congressmember who 20 republicans have voted 4 -- the first time an african-american, the democratic and republican party, has been nominated to be house speaker? >> fairly new member of congress, far right member of the freedom congress, like you said, the republicans were extremely proud to eventually move their support to him. they started with a number of others like jim jordan and others. one of the republicans when they got up basically gave a speech about frederick douglass, reminding the democrats that frederick douglass was a republican and would only ever be a republican. and then from there, nominated
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