07/24/23 07/24/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> what has been happening at the texas border does not seem to's stop. greg abbott's implementation of the blue system and the wire on the border is, sadly, not an immigration policy, not a strategy -- it is a strategy leading to the deaths of women and children along the border.

amy: the u.s. department of justice is threatening to sue texas republican governor greg abbott if he does not take steps by today to remove large barrels and coils of razor wire placed in the rio grande river to block migrants from crossing the border. we will speak to texas state senator roland gutierrez and go to arizona where the intercept has revealed u.s. border patrol agents are holding migrants and outdoor cages amidst a record-setting heat wave. >> i saw a roughly 50 migrants held in a chain-link enclosure with very little shade. the temperature that they was 140 degrees. -- 114 degrees. the remains of 14 migrants have been found. amy: new york city has agreed to pay $13 million to protesters

victimized by the police in the 2020 black lives matter protest. and we will look at the new blockbuster film about j. robert oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. >> christopher nolan's movie has drawn arch crosses we can. however, i found not so much what is wrong it that the many omissions that are troubling as we look at what happened in 1945 and the lessons for today as nuclear dangers increase in 2023. amy: we will speak to journalist greg mitchell who asks, "is hollywood still afraid of the truth about the atomic bomb?" all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. climate scientists have confirmed the first half of july marked the hottest to it's in

recorded human history and there are no signs the summit -- it is said to end anytime soon. in greece, evacuations are underway from the island of corfu, following the largest evacuation in greek history this weekend as some 19,000 people fled what was described as "hellish" wildfires in rhodes on -- in recent days. as european holiday-goers spent nights on airport or emergency shelter floors, described harrowing scenes. >> it is just getting worse and worse. basically, could to the fire on the mountaintops. panic. amy: at least 82 wildfires are blazing across greece come displacing thousands of people and burning down homes.

in italy, record breaking heat was followed up on friday with ice storm in the north, unleashing tennis-ball-sized how stones just north of milan, inundating streets and icy floodwaters. in india, authorities have ended a rescue mission after a monsoon-triggered landslide in the western state of maharashtra killed at least 27 people and flattened homes. at least 57 people are still missing and presumed dead. in pakistan and afghanistan, flash floods and landslides killed at least 44 people in recent days. meanwhile, the world health organization is warning global heating has pushed cases of dengue fever to near record highs. in bangladesh, authorities say the mosquito-borne viral infection has already reached epidemic proportions as it has killed 176 people this year, many of them children. in canada, authorities in nova scotia say the region was deluged in less than 24 hours with the amount of rain it

typically gets in three months. here in the united states, the newell road wildfire in washington's klickitat county grew to nearly 52,000 acres sunday, prompting evacuations. authorities say the fire threatens farms, crops, and livestock, as well as solar and wind farms and a natural gas pipeline. if it continues to grow, it could also threaten the yakama indian reservation. spain appears headed for contentious political negotiations after snap elections failed to produce an outright victory for either the left or right. the conservative partido popular won the most parliamentary seats, though it received fewer votes than expected. even if it formed an alliance with the far-right vox party, the right-wing bloc would still fall short of a majority. meanwhile, prime minister pedro sanchez's socialist party, which came in second, and the progressive sumar party spun sunday's victory outcome. this is prime minister sanchez speaking from madrid. >> those who proposed which is

no regression on rights and a backward looking block of people's party with vox has been defeated. there are many more who what to continue moving forward. amy: pro-independence catalan and basque parties could now become kingmakers in the formation of spain's next government. in cambodia, long-ruling prime minister hun sen declared a landslide victory in national elections sunday in a race where the ruling party ran virtually unopposed after suppressing the only viable challengers. hun sen, a former khmer rouge commander and the longest-serving head of state in asia with 38 years in power, is widely expected to transfer the premiership to his eldest son hun manet. in israel, the president declare the country "in the midst of a national emergency" as lawmakers hold a final vote today on a highly contested bill that would abolish the power of the supreme court to block government

decisions it deems unreasonable, the first of several radical judicial reforms set to be voted into law in the coming days. opposition parties are boycotting today's vote, which comes after hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in cities across israel for a 29th consecutive weekend. hundreds are demonstrating outside the knesset in jerusalem where police fired water cannons to disperse protesters who blocked roads and others chained themselves to trees. >> we were left with no choice but to go to civil disobedience, and we're here to protect -- [indiscernible] we can only hope they will listen to our cries. amy: prime minister benjamin netanyahu was discharged from the hospital after receiving emergency surgery to implant a pacemaker saturday.

the palestinian foreign ministry is demanding an international probe into the killing of a palestinian teenager by israeli forces in the occupied west bank town of sebastiya early saturday morning. witnesses say israeli soldiers fired more than 40 rounds into a car transporting 18-year-old fawzi hani makhalfeh. the shooting came just hours after israel soldiers fatally shot 17-year-old muhammad fouad atta al-bayed in the head during protests in the village of umm safa. here in new york, a man being detained at rikers island was found dead in his cell sunday morning. 44-year-old curtis davis is the seventh prisoner death at rikers this year. last week, manhattan's top federal prosecutor called for a government takeover of the rikers prison complex. new york city mayor eric adams opposes the idea. there have been 26 prisoner deaths at rikers since adams took office in january of last year. a warning to our audience, our next stories contain descriptions and footage of police violence. in ohio, newly released body camera video shows a state

highway patrol officer unleashing a police dog on an unarmed black truck driver after a traffic stop south of columbus on july 4. the footage shows 23-year-old jadarrius rose had his hands in the air when a handler directed the dog to attack him. rose was bitten, dragged by the arm, hospitalized and later released to be booked at the ross county jail on felony charges of failure to comply. so far there's no sign the officer responsible for the attack has faced any disciplinary action. in california, newly released video shows a los angeles county sheriff's deputy brutally beating a 23-year-old transgender man outside a convenience store in february. emmett brock was driving home from his job as a teacher when he was followed by deputy joseph benza to a 7-11 parking lot, where the officer tackled brock to the pavement and punched him repeatedly in the head, accusing him of resisting arrest even as brock cried out for help,

struggled to breathe, and made no move against the officer. a police report said brock was pulled over because he had an air freshener hanging from his rear-view mirror. brock says he was assaulted because he threw up his middle finger when driving past benza's patrol car. donald trump's trial over his handling of classified documents case has been set for may 2024, six months before the presidential election. trump's legal team is expected to file multiple motions, which could push back the trial's start date. federal judge aileen cannon, a trump appointee, set the trial at florida's fort pierce courthouse. the jury pool will be drawn from counties that previously elected trump. and president biden announced friday he secured commitments from seven major tech companies to ensure artificial intelligence adheres to a set of safety and transparency standards. pres. biden: companies have a duty to earn the people's trust and the power of users to make informed decisions labeling content that has been altered

for ai generated. rooting out bias and discrimination, privacy protections, and shielding children from harm. amy: other pledges include testing products for safety before releasing them, combating cyber threats, and managing risks to national security. the seven companies are amazon, anthropic, google, inflection, meta, microsoft, and openai. experts welcomed the voluntary commitment as a positive first step but called on lawmakers and government agencies to reinforce the measures with enforceable regulations. this comes as workers in a growing range of industries are calling for better protections against ai. more than 8000 authors, including margaret atwood, jonathan franzen, and viet thanh nguyen, signed onto a letter organized by the authors guild calling on ai to stop exploiting copyrighted works. the letter reads, in part -- "these technologies mimic and regurgitate our language, stories, style, and ideas. millions of copyrighted books, articles, essays, and poetry provide the 'food' for ai systems, endless meals for which there has been no bill."

meanwhile, google has demonstrated their ai-powered news-writing tool, known as genesis, to executives at "the new york times," "the washington post," and news corp -- owner of "the wall street journal." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the u.s. department of justice is threatening to sue taxes after republican governor greg abbott installed barrels wrapped in razor wire in the rio grande in an attempt to block migrants from crossing the river and entering the united states. texas has also placed large coils of razor wire in the river. the justice department has given abbott until 2:00 p.m. today to begin removing the floating barriers and related structures. humanitarian workers in the area report numerous migrants, including children, have suffered from lacerations after being cut by the razor wire.

oftentimes they could not see, it was underwater. a whistleblower inside the texas department of public safety recently decried the state's inhumane policies. in a letter to superiors, nicholas wingate wrote -- "the wire and barrels in the river needs to be taken out as this is nothing but a inhumane trap in high water and low visibility." last week, the u.s. justice department sent a letter to texas stating -- "the state of texas' actions violate federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal government's ability to carry out its official duties." texas governor greg abbott responded by writing on social media -- "texas has the sovereign authority to defend our border, under the u.s. constitution and the texas constitution." he would on to say "we will see you in court, mr. president." we are joined now by democratic texas state senator roland gutierrez.

he recently announced he will run against republican senator ted cruz. welcome back to democracy now! it is important for you to be here on this critical day. can you talk about these flesh-ripping razor wire barriers in the water and what you think needs to be done at this point? >> thank you, amy. first off, it is obvious what is happening on the border is inhumane as trooper wingate suggested. these people are made in the eyes of god. no one should have to go through this kind of torture. and it is torture. let's be very clear. the wire in the water cannot be seen. it has lacerated people. worse yet, trooper wingate describes a situation where people have tried to get beyond thes and razor wire and and

deeper parts of the river. he talks about a mom who lost her child underwater. her and her other child succumbed -- they rescued the mom and the daughter but they, sadly, died at the hospital. we have to understand what is happening at the border in texas right now is middle. they are state crimes. they are federal crimes. international crimes. we have to understand what is happening right now is at such a degree that troopers are acting under the cover of law and not only are taking people's rights, but people are dying or being injured very seriously from this. greg abbott needs to stop this flippant attitude and understand what he is doing is harming people and nothing he is doing has anything to do with any kind of immigration policy because they have shown no metrics under operation lone star. it has been stunt after stunt after stunt and unfortunately,

this one is leading to the deaths of migrants and migrant children. amy: there were a number of other incidents that were described in the email. the four-year-old migrant girl and pregnant woman having a miscarriage, found with severe injuries as they crashed into the barbed wire barrels while crossing the river. the young girl had also passed out from heat exhaustion. wingate also wrote the migrant mother, she described, and one of her children drowned. it looks like the other one is not found. a child being pushed back into the water by one of these border patrol? >> yes, amy. all of those actions you just described are absolute crimes that need to be prosecuted. i have talked to the local district attorney. i have asked the justice department to step in. they have suggested they are

doing that. they have asked the governor to remove the obstacles in the water. the department of public safety, the director, i spoke to him immediately as these reports came out which was last monday. suggested there is going to be an audit. i don't think he understands the severity of the situation. this is not about an audit. we need an investigation into who gave what commands and when, how high from the department of public safety did those commands come from, who knew about it. he claims he did not know anything about it. kind of audit or investigation of any sort from this agency i question because this is the same agency that failed all of those kids in uvalde, texas, a year ago and here we have no kind ability from this agency at all in the last year and a half on that incident. i think we have to take a very serious look at what is considered immigration policy and what isn't stop the last two

months we have seen a success in the reimplementation, cutting down crossings down to half. the fact is greg abbott doesn't want to have that discussion will stop he wants to talk about the chaos he has created. amy: given asked you are running against u.s. senator ted cruz. what role does he play in this, representing the state of texas? >> amy, the best i could say is cheerleader, i guess. cheerleader to greg abbott. he likes to come down to the border, doesn't talk about any of the benefits happening in the communities on the border, does not talk about trade. he likes to talk about this invading horde. he scares people with this notion that people are just caring fentanyl across our borders. it is coming from all sorts of words of injury across this country. -- entry across this country. no doubt fentanyl is a problem

and immigration, because immigrants are not responsible for the major problems that are happening in texas in education and health care, infrastructure and beyond. quite simply, lack of opportunity. ted cruz has done nothing. nothing to stop this problem, nothing to offer an idea on how to solve this immigration problem. luckily company president biden's administration come after the reimplementation, we have seen border crossings cut in half. amy: you are going to run for the u.s. senate against ted cruz, democratic texas they senator roland gutierrez. if you are in u.s. senate, iv voting on issues far beyond the borders of texas, and i wanted to look at arizona now with a related story. the intercept has revealed u.s. border patrol agents are holding migrants in outdoor cages amid a

record-setting heatwave. on thursday, intercept reporter and photographer observed about 50 migrants inside a chain-link pen at the ajo border patrol station, which is about two hours west of tucson. the migrants could be seen huddling in a small area where there was a bit of shade on a day when temperatures reached 114 degrees in the area. meanwhile, the group humane borders says the bodies have at least 13 people have been found over the past month in the sonoran desert, which many migrants cross. in addition to state senator roland gutierrez, we're joined and tucson, arizona, by ryan devereaux. he is an investigative journalist for the intercept. his latest piece is "border patrol is caging migrants outdoors during deadly arizona heatwave." welcome back. please describe what you have seen. >> thank you for having me. last week i got a tip the border patrol is holding migrants

outdoors in some sort of enclosure. this was surprising for two reasons. anybody who knows anything about the desert in southern arizona knows that this portion of the desert is as deadly as it gets. as you mentioned, we are right now experiencing a record-setting and deadly heat wave. i drove out to the ajo station withash ponerds, a photojournalist. we hiked up to a ridge where we were able to see into the border patrol station. it a telephoto lens and binoculars and we were able to observe roughly 50 migrants being held in a chain-link enclosure under sort of carport-style structure that cast a small strip of shade on the ground. the ground was loose rock. the shade was minimal. people were crowding themselves into the shade that was available shoulder to shoulder.

i observed roughly 30 migrants marched off to a separate section of the facility and roughly as many staying behind. the ground was littered with water bottles. there was one large fan and a misting machine set up and the only furniture in the pen was a set of metal bleachers indirect sunlight and appeared to be scorching hot. the fan and misting machine were pointed in an area with direct sunlight so they weren't in. people were largely quiet and still. there were folks who were there when we arrived and still there when we left. we observed the scene for roughly an hour. as i gathered more information before and after the reporting, the border patrol station in ajo has seen a lot of migrants coming in. folks presenting themselves for asylum. roughly 200 and three other

people a day but last week and a 24 hour period, over a thousand people showed up. humanitarian groups are trying to provide aid at the border wall but are overwhelmed. amy: where they men, women, children? >> from what i could tell, it appeared to be mostly adult men. age and gender were sort of impossible to be absolutely certain about from a distance. the 30 or so migrants are so migrants i saw marched off appeared to all be men. however, at the border itself, there are absolutely families showing up, children showing up. as you mentioned, in the past month, the remains of 14 migrants have been found in the desert. that is on top of the 4000 plus that have in recovered over the past 2.5 decades. all border researchers agree that is certainly an undercount stop we really can't overstate

how deadly this is combined with a heatwave we are experiencing now, it is a recipe for disaster. a because you write, on wednesday officials in maricopa county north of ajo reportedly at least 18 people have died in phoenix with 69 other cases under investigation this year. we are not talking about a comfortable heat. we are talking about deadly heat. >> that is absolutely correct. the area we are talking about where these migrants are being held is as rugged as it gets. it is as remote as it gets. this is the part of the desert you do not trifle with. with his heatwave, it is otherworldly. it is extraordinarily deadly. that desert will take your life in no time. amy: a spokesperson for customs and border protection sent a statement to the intercept has said the agency "is prioritizing expeditiously transporting noncitizens encountered in this

desert environment, which is particularly dangerous during current weather conditions, to u.s. border patrol facilities where individuals can receive medical care, food, water." your response? >> this sort of statement in response we would expect from cbp. it is fairly boilerplate. the biggest unanswered question here right now is how is it a multibillion-dollar agency receives more funding traditionally an atf, fbi, dea combined? how is it is agency does not have the resources to handle the arrival of migrants that is totally productively? this happens multiple times a year. it is been happening for years. what we're seeing is reaction -- what you'd expect from somebody who is saying this for the first time. this is a very well-funded agency and yet they are telling us they don't have enough

resources to avoid putting people outside in a historic and deadly heat wave. amy: in texas, have republican governor abbott. in arizona, of the democratic governor katie hobbs. when it comes to the border and treatment of emigrants, does it matter whether it is a democratic or republican governor? >> i think if you look at the events on the ground and how things shake out, we have seen in administration after administration, democrats and republicans, the kora limits remain the same. the u.s. strategy on the border -- this particular area, we're discussing today in the west desert of southern arizona come has turned into an absolute graveyard as a result of that bipartisan policy. amy: i want to ask senator gutierrez, we first spoke to you after the massacre of children in uvalde.

there hundreds of texas law enforcement moved in and did nothing. here you have texas law enforcement pushing children back into the water. can you comment overall and what needs to happen and if you became u.s. senator what is the kind of immigration reform we need to see? >> we need to revamp the whole system. i don't know people and congress are ready to do this but we are facing an aging population in the united states. we can absorb the really needs of jobs and hospitality, construction, agriculture. right now our farmers and ranchers are struggling with our program. we need to revamp this whole program, take immigration outside of the border, remove it to countries of origin, go to the u.s. consulate where you imagine an office that says "we need 10,000 jobs in hospitality." we start filling those jobs from abroad.

we can do this in a right way, we just need to have people currently in congress willing to do it. additionally, there are 13 million migrants in the u.s. that have been here for more than 30 years. we need to address that issue and give them a pathway to residency, first off, and citizenship beyond that. we have a million dreamers we have not settled. all of these issues on immigration are right in front of us and they are solvable, just does not seem people on either side of the aisle one to fix this political football. republicans, less so. i think they see it as i future voter that would not vote for them. we have seen the fixes come from republican named ronald reagan many years ago with amnesty. we have to get down together and figure this out. every group across country wants to solve this problem. it can be solved if we do it in a smart way. amy: democratic texas state senator roland gutierrez.

and ryan devereaux, reporter for the intercept based in tucson, arizona. ryan, we will link to your new piece "border patrol is caging migrants outdoors during deadly arizona heatwave." coming up, an historic settlement, new york city has agreed to pay teen million dollars to protesters victimized by the police during the 2020 black lives matter protest. then we will look at the film "oppenheimer." stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: tony bennet singing "boulevard of broken dreams." he died on friday at the age of 96. he was funder of the civil rights movement and marsh with dr. martin luther king. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to an historic

settlement for more than 1300 people who were attacked by new york city police while protesting the police murder of george floyd in 2020. the landmark $13 million settlement announced last week with the city of new york is years in the making and the largest total payout to protesters in a class action suit in u.s. history, with each person receiving just under $10,000. the case focused on how police violated protesters' civil and constitutional rights by making mass arrests and using excessive force that included improper use of pepper spray and using a tactic called kettling to trap and arrest protesters before a curfew went into effect. this is footage about improper arrest used in the case from an officers body camera. >> everyone is under arrest. everyone is under arrest. >> turn your body camera. turn your camera off. amy: camera off, the police are saying.

the settlement is the latest in a series of legal victories for protesters that use a video-analysis tool developed by situ research that quickly analyzes massive amounts of police body camera video, aerial footage, and social media videos. the city of new york settled another lawsuit in march with more than 300 protesters in the mott haven neighborhood of the bronx over the nypd's use of kettling in 2020 protests. each person received about $21,000, the highest per-person settlement for a mass arrest in u.s. history. while this latest settlement did not impose any reforms on the nypd, the director at situ research told the intercept "our larger goal remains enduring change in policing." for more, we are joined by two guests. gideon oliver is a civil rights attorney and co-counsel for the plaintiffs in this case. dara pluchino is a named plaintiff in the case, who was also a class member for the mott haven settlement.

she is a social worker. we welcome you both to democracy now! gideon oliver, let's talk about the scope of this settlement and the significance of new york city, the taxpayers, having to pay out $13 million because of police misconduct and brutality. >> thank you so much, amy. it is a great pleasure to be back on the show and a great pleasure to litigate this case with national lawyers guild, lawyers from coining green -- although there is no technical omission of liability from the city where the police department in connection with the settlement, size of the settlement really speaks for itself. although it is historic, as you mentioned, there was recently another historic settlement. a number of times before, the city of new york has paid out historic settlement in protester

cases. it begs the question, what is going to change? what is going to be different this time? amy: dara pluchino, tell us what happened you in these black lives matter protest in 2020. this was in the midst of the pandemic. just the bravery alone of people coming out in force, thousands of people in city after city protesting the police murder of george floyd. >> thank you, amy, for having us today and covering this. i can speak about my experience and also recognize that my experience largely due to the identities i hold and how that protects me from policing violence is not representative of what i witnessed happened to many others in protest that summer and since and before. so i really -- it is essential

to stop he considered as an isolated incident. my experience was one of unlawful policing, was one of kettling in mott haven and then mass arrests, being held for much longer than allowed, being handed off from the arresting officer to the one rogue the citation. i have lasting nerve damage in my left hand from the use of these anti-handcuffs -- zip tie handcuffs. my experience is much safer, i was much less harmed and my body was treated with much more care during arrest and folks around me who presented as black and brown and who i witnessed being hit with batons while arrested and handcuffed facedown on the ground. we work pepper spray in a targeted way -- who were pepper spray in a targeted way.

i witnessed being punched common saturn -- i witnessed being punched, etc. i want to turn to a video accompanying the 2020 human rights watch and situ research report detailing the nypd's plan to kettle and arrest protesters on june 4. in this clip, you hear an exchange between a new york police officer into protesters. >> already forced to break the curfew and police keep ratcheting up the pressure. amy: dara, they are saying, you guys are there, we can go anywhere, have corralled us in. if you can also explain, for people are not friendly or do with what kettling -- are not familiar with what kettling, if

you could describe it in detail? >> the practice of enclosing people in a group, it in this case protesters, and in a small area so there is not the ability to lead that area once mass arrest is going to occur. in the case of these protests, the kettling occurred as the person shared prior to when the curfew was in place and so it was a small narrow street and what occurred was the group of protesters marching came upon a lineup police officers using >> and batons and their bodies as a barrier in the front of the crowd. when the end of the group of protesters on that same street, another line of police came behind to do the same. at that point, the group of protesters was stuck and unable to leave that block radius

because we were surrounded by homes and buildings on either side and then police lines in the front and back. and once the curfew hit, then that is when chaos occurred. amy: gideon oliver, just last week, it is reported nypd officers accused of wrongdoing can now watch all relevant video of an incident before speaking to investigators. video evidence played a huge role in this settlement. if you could first talk about this situ, the video compelling as a vanessa video from police bodycam and social media, how this helped with this settlement and then took -- talk about what that means for police being able to view this before for the future. >> sure.

in this case, we both received and gathered an unprecedented amount of video from many sources, including a huge number of nypd body worn camera footage, aerial surveillance footage, etc. working with situ research, the partner who also worked with human rights watch on the video clip you just played, situ research was able to organize that data in a way they and we, the plaintiffs attorneys, could essentially look at what happened in any given date and location, integrating those various different video sources, which was an incredible resource to be able to have. in terms of ccrb's new policy

or change policy, before the new policy of -- nypd member could view camera footage because they can access that footage through central repository but if they did so, the revere record. there would be a record and metadata will stop so an investigator or some thinking about the officer's credibility could use in evaluating their statement. the police did not have access to other footage. taru footage taken by other police, etc. now the ccrb has changed its policy and will allow nypd members to basically view all of the footage before giving statements. that is not something that will happen, by the way, for victims

and witnesses. this is a change that will really undermine the truth seeking process that the ccrb is supposed to be involved in. it is outrageous. it will lead to much less justice and accountability. it is also interesting because the ccrb investigated many incidences of abuse rising from the summer 2020 protest and one of its chief complaint to the police department was that the police department wasn't making video footage and other evidence available, in many cases, nypd members who according to policy should have had their body worn cameras activated and were ordered by supervisors to turn the cameras off. amy: i want to put this last question to each of you, the issue of this being a money settlement come about 1300

people getting just under $10,000 each as opposed to also being policy changing settlement. let me first ask gideon and then dara as we wrap up. >> what this massive settlement for new yorkers is an open question. we cannot rely on the city government to do what they're supposed to do, which is translated huge, like this into some kind of increased accountability, oversight, and policy change. the settlement is historic and incredibly important, but it is also in some was only as important as what we make it mean. amy: dara pluchino, you are part of both settlements, mott haven and this historic $13 million settlement. >> yes, i think i would echo a lot of what gideon shared an ad

it is also an opportunity for folks like myself where this is representative of a more isolated incident with police because of the racist practices of policing to redistribute and reinvest in local community organizations and individuals and the people who are in community doing the daily work of keeping them safe outside of policing, which we know does not serve the world it is a spouse too. and for others, i hope with this money will do is provide an opportunity to access rest and care and therapy or whatever form that takes be it a vacation, be it a nice meal out with friends, formal therapy, whatever kind of care and healing is required from these incidents and also the daily experience of living and existing in an over police community and city and state.

amy: dara pluchino, social worker, plaintiff in this case. gideon oliver, civil rights attorney, cocounsel for the plaintiffs in this historic settlement. coming up, we look at the new blockbuster film about j. robert oppenheimer. we will speak to journalist greg mitchell. he asks, "is hollywood still afraid of the truth about the atomic bomb?" ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "destroyer of worlds" by ludwig göransson, soundtrack from the movie "oppenheimer." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show at the movies. universal pictures canceled the red carpet. people field theaters this weekend to see the film about j. robert oppenheimer, long known as the father of the atomic bomb. this is the trailer. >> we imagine a future in our imaginings will horrify us.

until they understand it. and they won't understand it until they have used it. fear will take you only so far. i don't know if we can be trusted with such a weapon. but we have no choice. amy: the physicist j. robert oppenheimer developed a test. there's a 15 second

advertisement produced by the union of concerned scientists that knows "oppenheimer's bomb led to decades of nuclear testing across the southwest, community still suffer of them packs related to the test. many without government recognition or justice." for more we're joined by greg mitchell, documented film maker and the author of numerous books, including "the beginning or the end: how hollywood -- and america -- learned to stop worrying and love the bomb." he was editor of nuclear times magazine in the 1980's and has written about this, most recent opinion piece for "the los angeles times" is "oppenheimer' is here. is hollywood still afraid of the truth about the atomic bomb?" some are calling this the greatest anti-nuclear film ever. you have a critical perspective on the film. why don't you just talk about your response to the film, what it got right, what it got wrong

will stop -- got wrong. >> i saw an early screening of the film before a lot of the critical opinions came in. so it with a very open mind. i think people should see the film. i think it is very well, well acted, well directed. i think it has good intentions. i certainly encourage people to see it. however, i did find a number of issues with it which i have written about really every day on my blog, newsletter. it is not so much what is shown in the movie. the movie does in-depth -- end up and wants to warn people that feature dangers and future threats of the bomb, which is admirable. i'm not sure any director besides christopher nolan with a long track record of popularity would have or could have this

bill made. however, the omissions are quite serious. you mentioned one, which is the lack -- almost total lack of any mentions or exploration of the radiation effects of this weapon, both in the trinity test, which is one of the main focuses of the film. it does not show the radioactive cloud that drifted away and the fallout that affected people and then of course, as you mentioned, the decades of nuclear tests, exposure to soldiers and workers and so forth. another thing is it does not show any images of people on the ground in hiroshima and nagasaki . there's nothing -- we see oppenheimer watching a screen where it looks like the footage is being screened. we do not see any of those images. we just see him growing a little disturbed about it. at the same time, they do not mention 85% of the victims in

hiroshima and nagasaki were civilians. they don't mention that at all. another thing, they barely mention nagasaki. it is kind of thrown in in passing and the last part of the film. just kind of tossed in as if it were forced into the script. one of the most important things in my mind, it does not challenge in any way the hiroshima narrative or official narrative, as i call it, that has held sway since 1945 about the decision to use the bomb. we can talk about that. it is very important. and the legacy for today. instead, i think what people say it is an anti-nuclear film, there is the message of dangers for today and control of the weapons and so forth, but it does not challenge the use of the bomb in 1945. i think you're supposed to take away from the haunted visage of oppenheimer and the great actor

celine murphy come his vague, conflicted, confusing regrets he seemed to issue during the movie and during his life but in fact as i have shown in my books, oppenheimer defended the use of the bomb against japan until the end of his life. the film is a little misleading in that. and in fact, it is true and is quite accurate that oppenheimer really did not reject it and the film certainly does not challenge the decision to use the bomb. it is more moving forward from 1945. amy: so when you talk about hiroshima and nagasaki, and fact the footage that came out that these scientists were shown in los almost afterwards, the horror of the skin melted. there is one reference to it, an

image of it. but the actual film was classified for years, is that right? >> yeah, well, i've written a whole book about it and directed a film two years ago they got quite a bit of attention, including on this show called "atomic cover-up" that looked at the post hiroshima, nagasaki, complete suppression of the japanese footage and the u.s. color footage that was seized and suppressed for many decades. of course, we don't see that in the film and i would not necessarily expect that. but there is an accurate scene in the film that shows at the end of may 1945, two misleading advisory committee, had a meeting where the subject sorta briefly came up how to use the bomb and should they use it.

oppenheimer, as he did in real life, shot this down and said this could not worker would not work, it was the wrong idea to do a demonstration shot. the bomb had to be used. and then one of the other members of the committee gives a ringing explanation which became the hiroshima narrative that still carries the date today, you might say, with the media and some historians, which is only the use of the bomb, only these have two bombs, really, would prevent a bloody invasion of japan, hundreds of thousands of u.s. casualties and so forth. this is not really challenged in the film. not by oppenheimer and not really in the film narrative. hiroshima and nagasaki are kind of left alone. the danger of this and the legacy and the reason i have

written so much on this for the past 40 years, really, is that the lessons for today is that, yes, everyone says we should never use nuclear weapons again, terrible, they must not be used. but on the other hand, we make these two exceptions. from 1945. of hiroshima and nagasaki. amy: for people -- for people to understand, greg, these scientists that came together at los alamos, the secret community that was built for them to build a bomb, but then nazi germany surrenders. where is beaten, is defeated. if you can explain further, this is something you're so steeped in, what it meant then to decide to use this bomb on japan and also the soviet union came into this, where russia came into this? >> right.

the motivation for making the bomb was largely hitler and nazi germany. it is really the main reason we beat hitler to the bomb. germany surrendered. we were still fighting japan. very bloody battles and bombing their cities that spring into the summer. of course the target became japan and the focus. there were scientists who did circulate a petition that asked people to ask other scientists to sign the petition, to at least delay using the bomb. oppenheimer is one of those people who squelched that petition, incidentally. basically, the decision was made

, even though any invasion of japan was not scheduled until november and december, that we had to use this bomb for we wanted to use this bomb as soon as possible. so we had the trinity test and the dropping of the bomb in early august. you mentioned the soviet aspect of it. it is important because we at our urging, assistance, stalin agreed to enter the war by mid august and yet we would head and dropped the bomb before the soviets entered the war. some people say the soviet entry along with a couple of other negotiating things could have ended the war pretty much in the same timeframe it ended. truman wrote in his diary -- eisenhower said it was necessary to use the bomb.

japan was going to surrender very soon. you have to step back a bit, which the film does not do the best job of showing, ok, deliberately targeted and exploded these bombs over the center of two cities. that was the aim. oppenheimer was in on that. everyone knew the aim was really to kill as many people and cause as much destruction as possible. which the executed. it was not a surprise. you really have to go back and say, was it worth -- to the people who died and the lessons for today where we still have a first strike policy today that we can use nuclear weapons in response to a crisis or eventual attack. the lesson we have from hiroshima and nagasaki is still endorsed by the media and many historians, you can make

exceptions and decide to use these weapons because we not only use them against two cities, but we continue our many people continue to defend that today. amy: we will do a post-show, part two of this conversation, but i want to reach a tweet to give people a sense of what we're going to talk about from the author and journalist who wrote -- >> there are a lot of secrecy aspects to a los alamos. the legacy was a lot of these radiation effects and secrecy, the secrecy regime that's really

held sway in the u.s. for decades until this day. amy: greg mitchell, thank you for being with us. we will link to your new piece "oppenheimer' is here. is hollywood still afraid of the truth about the atomic bomb?" we will do part two at democracynow.org

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