09/15/23 09/15/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> tonight, for the first time in our history, we will strike, all three of the big three, at once. we are using a new strategy, the stand up strike. we will call on select facilities, locals, or units to stand up and go on strike. amy: the united auto workers

have begun a historic targeted strike at gm, ford, and the -- stellantis. we will get the latest. then to the climate emergency as thousands prepare for a major march in new york to end fossil fuels. we will speak to a climate scientist taking part who was just arrested after she chained herself to a drill in an action to shut down construction of mountain valley pipeline. >> we have not even breached 1.5 degrees celsius and we are seeing such extreme impacts. the flooding in vermont, the fires in maui and canada, the flooding in libya. i could keep going and i don't want to. we need to halt climate change where it is. amy: and we will also look at a major victory for student climate activists. >> after 10 years of student activism, nyu committed to divesting from the fossil fuel industry. amy: then we go to washington where hunter biden has been indicted on gun charges while republican lawmakers have launched an inquiry into

impeaching president biden. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. united auto workers has launched a historic strike against the big three u.s. automakers. at midnight, about 12,700 workers committed to a work stoppage at three locations -- a gm factory in missouri, a stellantis complex in ohio, and a ford assembly plant near detroit, michigan. the union says up to 146,000 workers could ultimately join the strike unless auto executives end a two-tier system for wages and benefits and agree to improve pensions and working hours. joining the picket lines was michigan congressmember rashida tlaib, whose father was a long-time assembly line worker at ford and a uaw member. >> the cost-of-living adjustment has been part of every contract

until 2009 when they said, we will take a hit so we can keep you all afloat. the big three are clearly turning their backs on them. they are making record profits. it is about time to reward the very people for the reason they were even able to survive the great recession. amy: we'll have more on the uaw strike after headlines. in libya, the death toll from catastrophic flooding in the coastal city of derna has soared to more than 11,000. more than 10,000 others remain missing. al jazeera reports the two dams that burst early monday amid unprecedented heavy rains were more than a half-century old and not undergone maintenance since 2002. on thursday, the u.n.'s world meteorological organization said most of the deaths could have been avoided if libya had had a normally-operating meteorological service able to launch evacuations. in phoenix, arizona, the maricopa county department of public health reports at least

202 people died due to this year's unprecedented summer heatwave. another 356 suspected heat-related deaths are under investigation. nearly half the confirmed deaths were among people without permanent homes. about 50 occurred indoors, usually when people lacked air conditioning. jeff johnston is maricopa county's chief medical examiner. >> it is hard to ignore 31 days of above 110 degrees in a row and really shattering all of the previous records. but at the same time, it is really important to not lose focus on the increased number of vulnerable people in our society to these kinds of things. amy: in more climate news, internal documents from exxon reveal that executives, including former ceo rex tillerson, secretly worked to sow doubt about the severity of climate change even as the oil giant publicly acknowledged the link between fossil fuels and the climate crisis. tillerson would go on to become

secretary of state under former president trump. "the wall street journal" reports between 2006 and 2016, exxon executives in their internal communications worked to push back against the notion that humans needed to curtail oil and gas use to help the planet. in a statement, the center for climate integrity demanded exxon be held accountable, adding -- "this damning new evidence of exxon's climate lies shows that for decades it has been official company policy for executives to undermine climate science, minimize the dangers of their oil and gas business, and protect company profits at all costs -- with no concern for the catastrophic impact their actions would have on humanity." here in new york, hundreds of climate activists blocked the entrances to citibank's headquarters in manhattan thursday. at least 25 protesters were arrested. democracy now! spoke to organizer alec connon after he was released from police custody. >> just this week, there are thousands, potentially tens of

thousands of people that have died in libya from extreme flooding that is been driven by the climate crisis. we know it is being driven by the fossil fuel industry and the fossil fuel industry cannot survive without financial backing of banks like citibank. amy: thursday's action was part of a series of planned climate protests, including what is coming up sunday march to end , fossil fuels here in new york city. that march is part of the larger global fight to end fossil fuels, which will see actions take place around the world. we'll have more on the planned events later in the broadcast. federal prosecutors have indicted president biden's son hunter biden on felony charges of illegally possessing a handgun and making false statements in order to obtain a revolver in 2018. the charges carry a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000. special counsel david weiss brought the charges after a trump-appointed federal judge in july rejected a deal that would have seen hunter biden plead

guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts in order to escape more serious charges. it's the first time in u.s. history that the justice department has criminally charged the child of a sitting president. we'll have more on hunter biden later in the broadcast. in italy, the small island of lampedusa is asking the italian government for help after 7000 asylum seekers arrived by boat over a two-day period this week. they are living in precarious conditions. the island's population is typically just over 6000 people. arrivals to spain's canary islands also tripled in the first half of the month. racist rhetoric against black africans by tunisian president kais saied has helped drive the increase in asylum seekers hoping for a safer home in europe. in related news, 40 survivors of a refugee shipwreck have filed a lawsuit accusing the greek coast guard of deliberately neglecting to save passengers and likely causing their fishing boat to capsize when sailors attempted to tow the vessel. hundreds of people perished in

the june 14 tragedy. this is one survivor's account. >> they put out a rope and pulled us. they quickly pulled us the boat capsized. people started to fall on each other. it totally capsized. because the people were on top of each other, people were screaming. people were drowning each other. it was scary. amy: in wisconsin, the republican-controlled state senate voted thursday to oust meagan wolfe, the state's top election official. wisconsin's democratic attorney general josh kaul immediately filed a lawsuit seeking to block her ouster. the elections administrator position is a non-partisan one. but after donald trump narrowly lost in wisconsin to joe biden in 2020, republicans and far-right interest groups began harassing meagan wolfe and spreading misinformation about election fraud. in more news from wisconsin,

planned parenthood will start performing abortions again next week, in a major win for reproductive rights. following last year's overturning of roe v wade at the u.s. supreme court, wisconsin republicans used an 1849 state law to justify an abortion ban, putting providers and patients in limbo. this is planned parenthood of wisconsin president tanya atkinson. >> the uncertainty about the enforceability of wisconsin's 1849 abortion law has been devastating for wisconsin women and people across the gender spectrum who need abortion care. a ruling by the court in july made it clear the 1849 law is not enforceable for voluntary abortions. amy: and on capitol hill, democrats have introduced legislation to provide $16 billion in emergency childcare funds annually for the next five years. this comes just two weeks before billions of dollars in pandemic-era funding for day cares is set to expire, potentially forcing tens of thousands of childcare programs

to shut down, impacting over 3 million children. senator patty murray co-authored the bill. >> we have a childcare crisis in america, and that crisis could soon go from bad to worse as essential really for the sector expires by the end of this month. so we are here today to sound the alarm and put forward a commonsense solution. before childcare providers might have to close their doors, before kids lose their childcare slots, and before parents face higher costs or simply be forced to leave their job to take care of their kid. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the uaw, the united auto workers, has launched a historic targeted strike against the big three u.s. automakers -- ford, general motors, and stellantis, which is the parent company of chrysler. on thursday, uaw president shawn

fein announced strikes at three facilities -- a gm plant in wentzville, missouri, a stellantis complex in toledo, ohio, and a ford assembly plant in wayne, michigan. about 12,700 workers are taking part in this initial strike but fein said the strike could be expanded. >> tonight, for the first time in our history, we will strike all three of the big three at once. we are using a new strategy, the standup strike. we will call on select facilities, locals, or units to stand up and go on strike. this strategy will keep the company's guessing. it will give our national negotiators maximum leverage and flexibility in bargaining. and if we need to go all out, we will. amy: the strike comes during a highly profitable period for the

big three automakers. according to the uaw, the three auto companies made a combined $21 billion in profits in the first six months of the year. the union is demanding higher wages, a return to traditional pension plans, and a shorter work week. this is jessie ramirez, president of uaw local 230. >> it is a long time coming. our members are owed what they gave up during the bankruptcies. they gave up paid, pensions, tears were introduced into our location here. it is about time that all the sacrifice our members gave to this country to bring it out of bankruptcy and now one of the most profitable car companies, it is time to get what is owed to them. amy: on wednesday, shawn fain auto workers about the need to strike. >> i am at peace with the decision to strike if we have to because i know we're on the right side of this battle.

it is a battle of the working class against the rich, the haves versus the have-nots, the billionaire class against everybody else. again in talking about this, this class warfare, people accuse us and say this is class warfare. there has been class warfare going on in this country for the last four years. the billionaire class has been taking everything and leaving everybody else to fight for the scraps. when i talk about that, there's one more piece of scripture it reminds me of in matthew 19, 23-24, which states "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god." why is it easier for a camel to

pastor the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of god? i have to believe that answer, at least in part is because in the kingdom of god, no one hordes all the wealth while everybody else suffers and starves. in the kingdom of god, no one puts themselves in a position of total domination over the entire community. in the kingdom of god, no one forces others to perform endless backbreaking work just to feed their families or put a roof over their heads. that world is not the kingdom of god. that world is hell. living paycheck-to-paycheck, scraping to get by, that is hell. choosing between medicine and rent is hell. working seven days a week for 12 hours a day for months on end is hell.

having your plant closed out and your family scattered across the country is hell. being made to work during a pandemic and not knowing if you might get sick and die or spread the disease to your family is hell. enough is enough. it is time to decide what kind of world we want to live in. it is time to decide what we are willing to do to get it. amy: that was uaw president shawn fain who took office in march. we are joined now by two guests. alex press is a staff writer for jacobin magazine where she covers labor. her new piece is "the uaw strike matters for the entire u.s. working class." press was a union organizer before becoming a reporter. and marcelina pedraza works as an electrician at a ford assembly plant in chicago. a member of uaw local 551 and a fourth generation union worker.

let's begin with you in chicago. your response to what happened last night at midnight? thousands of autoworkers going out on strike in a targeted strike against three of the automakers, the three major, the big three automakers? talk about the significance of this. >> first of all, thank you for having me. i love the show. this is an historic moment, the first time in history that all big three auto workers will be striking. it is inspiring to see solidarity between all of the autoworkers -- not just autoworkers, but from workers all around. this is going to be beneficial to us. we are going to keep fighting. i hope this strategy will work. i am going to trust the process. i know a lot of members might be

disappointed that we were not called, but that still could be a possibility and we are ready if and when we will be called to walk out next. amy: talk about this strategy of the targeted strike. we have never seen this before in u.s. history. also, do you think a change in the leadership of the uaw, shawn fain became president in march, has made the difference here? >> yes, for sure. since our newly elected president shawn fain said, this is going to keep the companies guessing. since he was elected, the one member/one vote campaign, i think it has made a huge difference. members are seeing more transparency. we are getting constant updates, which we have not seen in the past couple of contracts i have been involved with.

so members are fired up and we are ready and we are united. amy: it is a key point you are making that shawn fain won in the first direct election of the uaw's leadership in the organization, in the union's 88 year history. i want to go to the ford ceo jim farley who was speaking on cnbc earlier this week, claiming the united auto workers union proposal could bankrupt the company. >> if we signed up for the uaw's request, instead of making money and distribute $75,000 in profit sharing the last 10 years, we would have lost $15 billion and gone bankrupt by now. the average pay would be nearly $300,000 for a four-day workweek. >> per employee. >> yeah. this is our total tenure school teacher in the u.s. makes $66,000. the military, a fireman makes mid $50,000. this is 4, 5, six times what

they make. there's no way we could be sustainable as a company. that is what we put in a proposal to weeks ago to say, look, you want us to choose bankruptcy over supporting workers? here's our proposal. let's work through this. we have heard nothing. amy: that is the ceo of gm, jim farley. last that, shawn fain was asked about his comments and he said that the labor pay was something like 5% of what the companies payout. alex press, our staff writer and wrote this new piece "the uaw strike matters for the entire u.s. working class." if you can talk about what farley is contending? >> shawn fain said last night in response to the comments, every

word out is a lie. i think in this case, it is true. jim farley was paid tens of millions of dollars last year. there's no sense a bankruptcy on the table for these companies. i think it is important of the about we talk about strikes that are about ending tiers, which is at play here. $300,000 a year, this is a calculation for the top right with full benefits translated into monetary value. there are workers on the assembly lines right now who are making $22 in our with very few benefits. these are workers who can spend up to eight years as temporary employees, not given access to full-time benefits and pay because of these tiers. they might work 60, 70 hours a week along people were paid much better. this destroys the union. workers distrust each other. it is hard to keep oneself together and the situation. jim farley is contesting he

can't afford to give workers a few extra dollars an hour. i think there are many specificities when you go to the list of demands here that you don't have to be all in and a member of the uaw's reformed leadership to sense that this is a life. even bloomberg itself talked about how real wages have been down to percent for uaw members for the last 10 years. again, bloomberg said the companies can afford this. amy kochan farley is the ford ceo -- amy: jim farley is the ford ceo, made something like $21 million in compensation last year adding to the detroit news while still into co -- stellantis io made over $28 million. can you talk about why 2023, this historic strike, relates so directly to the 2009 financial crisis and what uaw agreed to get back because the company

said they would go bankrupt? >> sure. there were a number of concessions the workers agreed to the uaw agreed to. "to save these companies." they were failing, facing bankruptcy. some of the things the workers gave up included cost-of-living allowances, cola as we call it. as inflation has been high lately, these workers are losing more and more money every year in real wages. they introduced tiers. workers who are working alongside the older workers, the more senior workers and being paid less, lack pensions. retirees are suffering. these are things that were supposed to be temporary. the company said as soon as we are profitable, we will get this back. it was the sense of partnership. that partnership was a poison pill for workers and the uaw's leadership knows that and saying, you are very profitable. it is clear these companies are

making historic profits. it is up almost 100% over the past decade versus the decade prior. the leadership and rank-and-file are saying, ok, you lied. you did not give it back so now we are taking about. amy: senator bernie sanders has called on the u.s. public to support a strike by uaw members. >> the three major automakers do not provide reasonable contracts to address long-standing inequities in the industry, there will be a strike. and all of us should support the strikers. the uaw members who will be fighting not only for themselves, but against a corporate culture of arrogance, cruelty, and selfishness which is causing massive and unnecessary pain for the majority of working families throughout our country. their fight against corporate greed is our fight.

their victory will resonate all across the economy, impact millions of workers from coast to coast, and help create a more just and equitable economy. and because that is bernie sanders. alex press, you have the three targeted plants in wayne, michigan, 33 hundred workers. toledo, ohio, stellantis, makers of chrysler. wentzville, 3600 workers striking against gm. explain this overall strategy and then how it could expand over 150,000 workers. >> as we have heard, it is called the standup strike, what the uaw is calling it. it has never been tried before. it is a call back to the union's origins, which were in the flint sit-down strikes. these incredible photos that you can find in archives and history books of workers sitting down in

a plant reading newspapers, drinking coffee. they would not leave. this was a targeted strike on particular plants the entire supply chain, entire supply line for auto relied upon. it was an enormous success. it inspired copycats in other unions and largely reignited and built the 20 century labor movement. shawn fain said, this is our generation's answer to the sit-down strike. as we have said, just under 13,000 workers on strike. this is an escalation tactic. shawn fain says not only once a week but several times a week he could call out new plans. every time one of these company gives an insulting proposal at the bargaining table, shawn fain and the leadership can stand up and say, "all right, new plans are out." it is this increase of leverage. there are risks, of course. the all-out strike at once would be powerful, would be important for the workers because it would be such a massive -- they would

have their communities with them, it would be so visible. it of the same time, it is very expensive. so these workers right now are starting paychecks on the workers who are on strike are getting money out of the strike fund, $500 a week. this helps sustain the strike. so far we have seen -- i was a little bit of a skeptic about this and we have already seen it is paying dividends here. there have been a lot of reports from uaw members in certain plants that there plant management has been given fake lists of what plants are going to be targeted, that it is messing up the supply chain, that there is confusion and panic among the companies. to use a metaphor, it is guerrilla warfare. amy: marcelina, come from a blue-collar family, for generation union worker. for you, the significance of this moment -- not only for the auto workers, but can you talk about you see yourself and the

auto workers setting a model for working people across the country? >> i come from the south side of chicago which was once the biggest steel producer in the nation. i have seen my family, my father and grandfather work in the mills and i've seen those plants close down and seeing what it can do to community. based to work at an assembly plant and now it has been idled and we don't know what is going to happen there. a much smaller city than chicago august the but it will be devastating to the community. this is an important moment in history for us to went back a lot of the things we have lost the past for years. it is huge for the labor movement and it is uniting workers all across the world. we have had solidarity from brazilian autoworkers, mexican autoworkers. workers of all kinds.

it is going to make a huge impact on working families. amy: alex press, before we go, put this in the context of union activism around the country and around the world this year. almost unprecedented. >> yeah, in the united states, not unprecedented but certainly unlike anything we have seen in several decades. certainly in my lifetime. we have the massive double strike in hollywood that is hundreds of thousands of workers, 160,000 just in sag-aftra come another 12,000 of the hollywood writers. we've seen other strikes across the country and we have seen near strikes come the teamsters at ups came very close to striking and in doing so, won an unprecedentedly strong contract. i to people to think on a bigger timeline. this is a culmination of years

of the rising working-class progressive socialist movement that you can draw a line through. occupy wall street, black lives matter, the bernie sanders presidential campaign, and now a rising, fighting working-class organized labor movement that is not just clawing back, but going on the offensive. you see a lot of them are the same people throughout these years. it is a big part of it is also the pandemic. clarify the lines of class. also heightened risk for workers like autoworkers who had to risk, as shawn fain said, could catch a disease at work and spread it to the families. ceos and plant managers got to work from home. there was very little risk at all. this is an expression of pent-up frustration and reform effort and organizing and i think just to put it to underline it here, i would just say they have a lot

of ground to make up to autoworkers and they are dead set on trying to do it. amy: the videogame programmers, the significance of them if they go out on strike, who they are? >> yeah, this is -- back to the reflection of white-collar workers who have been organizing new unions in a remarkable way. we might think videogame programmers have very little in common with autoworkers, but these are both sets of workers who if you read about what the videogame developers are going through, massive overwork, incredible stress, incredible pressure, and huge profits for their employers while they don't see their fair share. there are new union campaigns and as we have heard already on this program, when united auto workers strike and if they win, which i believe they will, that has effects for everybody else. the uaw is the biggest and

gestural union in the united states. it is why we all have to be out on the picket and other was supporting them. amy: alex press, labor reporter, jacobin magazine. we will into your latest article "the uaw strike matters for the entire u.s. working class." and marcelina pedraza, electrician at ford assembly plant in chicago, member of uaw local 551. coming up, thousands prepare for a major march in new york sunday to end fossil fuels we will speak to a climate scientist who was just arrested for chiding herself to a drill to protest the construction of the mountain valley pipeline. and we will speak to nyu students who have just forced new york university to divest from fossil fuels. back in a minute. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "i'm your man" by mitski." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. ahead of a major march sunday in new york city to escalate the fight to end fossil fuels, hundreds of climate activists blocked the entrances to citibank's headquarters in manhattan thursday. it was part of a push to end financing for the fossil fuel industry. at least 25 were arrested, including alec connon, co-director of stop the money pipeline. he spoke to democracy now! after his release. >> citibank is the world's second-largest funder of fossil fuels. since the paris agreement was signed seven years ago which was supposed to be pivotal turning point in a climate story, citibank has loaned more than $332 billion to the coal, oil, and gas companies that are fueling the climate crisis and fighting climate action at every turn. we have been engaging with citi for years, talking to the senior

leadership, and encouraging them to listen to us and to start passing policies to stop financing fossil fuel expansion, but they have not listened. so today, we descended on their headquarters and we blocked 12 entrances to their headquarters and prevented many, many hundreds of their workers from being able to enter the building for an hour or two hours. amy: also this week, some 400 scientists endorsed the demands of sunday's march to end fossil fuels. part of the global fight to end fossil fuels which will see actions take place around the world. in an open letter to president biden, they noted he had vowed to listen to the science in tackling the climate crisis, but -- "it's clear that the crisis is spiraling out of control, and the policies of your administration with regard to fossil fuels fail to align with what the science tells us must happen to avert

calamity." for more, we are joined by one of the signatories to this letter. rose abramoff is an earth scientist who is just arrested for chiding herself to a drill in order to shut down construction of the mountain valley pipeline, which will carry cubic feet of fracked gas 2 billion across appalachia. this after she was fired in from january the oak ridge national laboratory after urging other scientists to take action on climate change. welcome back to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. if you can talk about 400 scientists have endorsed this march on sunday, and this is kicking off a week of climate action, what your demands are and the significance of you all being scientists? many other groups have also endorsed this march. >> take you for having me on. this letter does some 400

scientists have signed is very simple. it is one of our shorter letters. it asks the biden administration to meet the demands of the march to end fossil fuels, which essentially are to stop federal approval for new fossil fuel projects and repeal permits for major projects like the willow project and the mountain valley pipeline come to phase out fossil drilling on our public lands and waters, to declare a climate emergency, and to design and energy transition that protects workers rights -- which might relate to your earlier segment. the reason why -- we could get into the science of it. we don't actually spend a lot of time talking about how the continued use of fossil fuels puts us at greater risk of devastating heat and flooding and climate migration, the message is simple. we feel like the science has come to such a complete

consensus and we want fossil fuels to stop. amy: you were arrested just a week ago when you joined, what, four other activists to block construction of the mountain valley pipeline in west virginia. this is one of the favorite projects have joe manchin, receives the most oil and gas funding of any senator in the u.s. congress. can you talk about your action? >> sure. i was locked to the drill, poised to go under the greenbrier river which is the longest undammed river in the united states. it is of runnable and difficult area to drill through. it poses a lot of vulnerability for a lot of the local environment. then we had the climate impact of the carbon dioxide which we can't afford if we want to meet

our climate goals or come anywhere close to meeting them. there were five elder women who are part of the rocking chair rebellion who were locked on or blocking with me. we all felt that this pipeline is emblematic of the larger struggle to transition away from fossil fuels, that we are failing in that struggle right now. senator manchin come as you said, the champion of the m.v.p., has received more money from methane gas pipelines any other lawmaker. so there is -- it is egregious this is still happening. from a scientific perspective, it is a no-brainer that we should not be expanding fossil fuels full stop. adding to the carbon risk -- this d's to become a stranded asset if we're ever going to meet our climate goals.

this pipeline being built now should not be put into service. america west virginia center manchin recently went to the construction site to speak about how the project is on track, will provide jobs. the company says it was to finish construction to restore the environment. your response to these kinds of statements? >> right. well, i don't think it is accurate to say building this pipeline will restore the environment. i think it will do exactly the opposite. what is left of this pipeline now is still hundreds of water crossings, which are in the riskiest type of construction for the local environment. of course, there is the emissions burden of this pipeline which i think is fairly obviously a negative impact on the environment. locals don't want this pipeline. the resistance to this pipeline is primarily local. primarily effective. i find it heartening this

pipeline is six years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget in part because of these small locally organized actions such as the one we participated in. amy: i want to ask you about one of ernie's headlines. we talked about the internal documents from exxon revealing executives, including trump's former secretary of state rex tillerson who was the former ceo of exxon, secretly worked to sow doubt about the severity of climate change even as exxon publicly acknowledged the link between fossil fuels and the climate crisis. he would go on to become secretary of eight. "the wall street journal" reports exxon executives and their internal communications attempted to push back against the notion that humans needed to curtail oil and gas use to help the planet. if you can respond to this? >> sure.

first of all, i find it pretty astounding the article came out in the wall street journal." i am heartened it is interested in exxon's basically decades long conspiracy to cover up the climate crisis. it makes me feel like we are making some progress. at least of what exxon's intentions are. secondly, i don't and i'll find it shocking that exxon's continuing to downplay climate change as latest as this last decade. i would argue if you did another exposé in 10 or so years of communications happening right now these companies, would find a continued utter lack of intention to transition their energy holdings. to me is like one more line of evidence. there was a study earlier this year in the journal signs that shows exxon's internal climate models in the 1970's were as accurate as anyone else's in the scientific community, yet they

continue to -- they never publicly acknowledged climate change until the mid to thousands. it is a lesson that fossil fuel companies like exxon have no intention of transitioning their energy holdings on their own, that we have to force them to do it. amy: you will be joining this march on sunday but, rose abramoff, was it worth all you have done being fired in january from the oak ridge national laboratory after urging other -- after urging other scientists to speak out around climate change and to take action on it? are you sorry for what you did? >> i am not. i feel like i tried everything that i could do in order to get this message across and to get the message out to people that climate activists are not crazy but this is a serious issue that

we need to address now. i feel like i did everything that i could within the context of behaving well as a scientist, educational programs, policy reports, city councils, marches. i would not feel the need to risk my job lede -- alicia , felony level charges by locking myself to pipeline drill if i fell at the voice of the scientific community was being properly heard. i stand by my actions. amy: dr. rose abramoff, thank you for being with us. we turn now to major victory for climate activists here in new york when nyu, new york university announced its plans to divest from fossil fuels after facing over a decade of pressure from student advocates. the chair of the nyu board of trustees announced the decision in august letter addressed to sunrise nyu and acknowledged them for their work over the years.

for more we're joined by two of the people who work he did this campaign. alicia colomer is the co-founder of sunrise nyu and the managing director of fossil free research. dylan wahbe is a co-founder and hub director of sunrise nyu. what exactly did nyu agree to do ? talk about your organizing leading to this. >> thank you for having me. the fossil fuel industry continues to deny and delay climate action and it is very important for universities to put their money where their mouth is and actually invest and adjust green energy future that they are preparing the students to enter. not continue investing in an industry that is destroying our future. what nyu has committed to do is stop giving more money to the industry that is destroying our future. that is why it is such a full decision. this comes after 10 years of student activism and organizing

at nyu and should not have taken a decade for them to be able to finally make this announcement. amy: the announcement was what? were you surprised? this is one of the wealthiest universities in the united states, certainly one of the most expensive for tuition. were you surprised that they congratulated the chair of the board? congratulated nyu sunrise? you are the cofounder of that organization. >> i was deftly surprised because in most university divestment announcements, student activists are not recognized in the decision. it was very gratifying to read that letter from the chair of our board congratulating the success of sunrise nyu in getting here. i think that recognition is very well-deserved because we have spent so many years building this great organization and running this amazing campaign, and we genuinely could not have gotten this win without the work

of so many student organizers who did everything from organizing protests and rallies to collecting over 2000 signatures on our petition to working with our student government assembly. it was so many years of work leading up to this decision and it was very gratifying that the chair of our board was able to recognize that. amy: dylan wahbe, your response, as one of the cofounders of sunrise nyu? >> sunrise nyu is nothing but our people. we don't even have a consistent place to meet within nyu. we have to improvise. we have incredible leadership and membership. on top of that, we work with other progressive student organizations and other unions on campus. through this broad coalition, it is alternately what forced the board of trustees to sit down with us and lead to this decision. amy: alicia colomer, if you can

talk about the efforts to block fossil fuel corporations from finding university research on the climate crisis? earlier this year, reported by date of her progress and fossil free research, your group, looked into the influence of big oil and other polluters, what influence they have on higher education. >> definitely. as you were just talking about with rose, fossil fuel companies have continued to so misinformation about climate information in order to deny climate action. one way they do this is funding research at universities that needs for false climate solutions and helps them continue business as usual. for them, that is a continued destruction of our planet. policymakers and legislators, they read these reports that come from prestigious universities. they are much more likely to believe a "climate research

document" if at the top of the document said "m.i.t." or "harvard." though it might as will have a direct exxon brenda because all of that research is directly funded by these big oil companies. what we're trying to do is stop that pipeline, stop the fossil fuel money from polluting our universities in the first place so universities can become real climate leaders and create real innovation, real, solution, and lead us to a just energy transition. that is why we demand universities stop taking fossil fuel money for climate research. amy: dylan wahbe, what else do you think needs to be set as we move into what is happening on sunday, this major march? what inspired you to get involved with the whole issue of climate change? >> i think i would encourage every single student to get organized and join the movement. there are incredible groups,

extinction rebellion, others and it is through community organizing we will have a voice. it is through community organizing we will have a voice. amy: we have to leave it there. it seems dylan's voice has gone into a loop. dylan wahbe and alicia colomer are cofounders of sunrise nyu. coming up, we go to washington were hunter biden has been indicted on gun charges. it is the first time in history that the child of a sitting president has been indicted. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "really happening" by spirit of the beehive.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. federal prosecutors have indicted president biden's son hunter on felony charges of illegally possessing a handgun and making false statements in order to obtain a revolver in 2018. the charges carry a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000. the special counsel now, david weiss, brought the charges after a trump-appointed federal judge in july rejected a deal that would have seen hunter biden plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts in order to escape more serious charges. it's the first time in u.s. history that the justice department has criminally charged the child of a sitting president. this comes as republican lawmakers have open an impeachment inquiry enter president biden. we're joined now by ryan grim, d.c. bureau chief for the intercept. his upcoming book is titled "the squad: aoc and the hope of a political revolution."

thank you for joining us. first, talk about this, well, it is an historic indictment. the first time the child of a president -- he is hardly a child -- has been indicted. >> it is historic but also kind of a letdown in a sense, for people who really want to see hunter throne of against the wall. it is kind of a to contact charge. it is kind of a charge that the right is going to want to see thrown out. hunters lawyers made this argument that look, you can go ahead and make this charge and you can probably get a conviction in front of a jury because the facts are, look, everybody's innocent until proven guilty but it looks like he did fill out the form saying he was not using drugs and at the time he was buying this weapon and that was not true. he was. according to his own memoir. unless he wants to try to argue and that discrete moment he was

not. second amendment absolution us are going to say, there's nothing that says you have to be sober. i would argue it cuts against the whole idea of a real regulated -- well-regulated militia. you could easily see an appeals court toss out this conviction which would then lead to ironically an expansion of gun rights at the hands of hunter biden, ironically. amy: you did not see republicans, while they're disappointed this did not go deeper, and interesting oversight committee, who is unable to come up with anything on president biden yet mccarthy has just announced the house speaker they're starting this impeachment inquiry against him said this is probably the one charge that president biden has nothing to do with. >> that's true.

it is the most court owned off --cordoned off crime he would've committed. everything else has at least some kind of tangential connection potentially to president biden whether it is tax charges or the foreign influence. this is just a messed up guy lying on paperwork to buy a gun. amy: that he wasn't taking drugs when in fact he said in his book that he was taking drugs. so this is evidence from his own book. but as eddie lowell points out and the republicans would underscore in any other case, this is a violation they are saying of the first -- the second amendment. talk about the context which this is happening in. the opening of this impeachment inquiry enter president biden.

do you feel it has something to do with, well, as president trump runs again for president, then he can say what people say the twice indicted president trump -- we have all been indicted, we evolve -- rather, we have all been impeached. >> maybe this will become the norm, that if the house of representatives is controlled by the opposite party, there will be pressure from that party's to invite the president -- not to indict, to impeach the president if the president is from the opposite party. which then strips it of a lot of power. what would basically happen is it seems like kevin mccarthy got word that matt gaetz is going to give an extended speech, his own indictment so to speak, of kevin mccarthy when house came back this week from its august recess . and say he was going if mccarthy did not live up to the bargain struck back in january, who's going to make a motion to

kick mccarthy out of his speakership and mccarthy scrambled quickly to make this announcement that he was going to open an impeachment inquiry but not send that to the house floor for a vote -- which means whatever moderate report goods are left, don't have to walk the plank in their biden-harris supporting districts. steve on his podcast said it looked like mccarthy had bayonets in his back and he did. what he needs is people like matt gaetz and steve bannon force mccarthy entered this position. the white house is saying if you don't put this on the floor for about, what we can do is refer to the legal counsel memo written by president trump's attorneys that say if the house does not vote on an impeachment inquiry, it is not an pitchman inquiry. kevin mccarthy getting up in front of a bank of microphones and declaring it does not make it so. you therefore have not actually

open up the powers of impeachment yet. if you want to do it, you have to put people on record saying they want to move forward on this. amy: is it that he's afraid even among republicans he won't have the votes? >> he only has a cushion of around four votes. amy: one of them is george santos, if that is his name. >> although santos will do whatever mccarthy asks them to do, ironically. usually somebody from that district would be the kind that would be less willing to make a move against biden if biden is popular in that district. but because santos has the problems he has, he is just doing whatever mccarthy says. amy: what happened yesterday, the meeting of the republican caucus with the f-bombs flying in the house speaker mccarthy saying you can make an effing move if you want to as they want

to unseat him come this leading to possibly government shut down by the end of the month? >> it is an incredible time for this to be happening. like you said, if they don't produce a continuing resolution or some type of spending bill by september 30, the house shuts down. the house has been saying they don't want to do a continuing resolution, they want to do their own appropriation bills where the house is designed to work. normal functional government. they have two weeks to pull that off. yet there spending all of their time shouting at each other and saying they're going to impeach biden and also throw mccarthy out of the speakership. they're not going to pass their appropriations bills. they also say if you try to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government open, we will throw mccarthy out of speakership. the only two paths to keep the government open are those two. their dysfunction is ruling out the former and the freedom caucus is ruling out the latter.

it does sam like they are headed for a shut down of their own making. they won't even be able to spin it in a serious way that it was democrats fall. amy: ryan grim, thank you for being with us d.c., bureau chief , for the intercept. happy birthday to sam alcoff!