he took over the reins of the aclu. two weeks before the 9/11 terrorist attacks and had his hands full ever since. one of the outcomes of that tragic period in american history is there was a strong focus on civil liberties and civil rights that came out of it. given concerns about surveillance. the aclu received a lot of funding and donations during that period. so much so they were able to double the size of their staff. one thing that romero thought would be beneficial is more expertise on staff related to scientific issues. she is the one who brought their attention to these issues. they hired for the first time in 2003 a scientist who had completed a graduate degree at berkeley and was working at a nonprofit related to genetic issues. and was recruited by the aclu to become their first science director. she's the one who brought their attention to these issues. susan: we found a clip from 2007, while it is not directly related to this piece, it is about dna. i just wanted to show it to our audience so they can get

the aclu is writing to the judge trying to unseal the warrants that are against me. they said this is never happened in american history. what's happening to you has never happened before to any journalist. now they're starting point guns at us. and take our notebooks. i admire people like edward snowden, julian assange, mike wallace. i don't know what is happened. i don't know why the billion-dollar corporations are doing the job. his left scrappy broke entrepreneurial enterprising people but so be it. >> james o'keefe project veritas and of the author of this book american muckraker rethinking journalism for the 21st cen >> good evening. welcome to the midtown scholar bookstore. it is an honor to welcome you to this evening's author program. before we begin, i have a few housekeeping notes as always. one, while our speakers will keep their masks off, we ask you to keep your masks on. two, this event is being recorded by c-span, so a couple notes. we please ask you turn off your cell phone ringers, refrain from using an

the aclu is writing to the judge trying to unseal the warrants that are against me. they said this is never happened in american history. what's happening to you has never happened before to any journalist. now they're starting point guns at us. and take our notebooks. i admire people like edward snowden, julian assange, mike wallace. i don't know what is happened. i don't know why the billion-dollar corporations are doing the job. his left scrappy broke entrepreneurial enterprising people but so be it. >> james o'keefe project veritas and of the author of this book american muckraker rethinking journalism for the 21st c

yeah, i supported the aclu then. i wish they were as adamant about things today as they were back then. because the aclu has a very unix unique structure with state chapters. many of them are fantastic. and the national body is kind of divided 50-50 with some of them being old-school this is all about the constitution and freedom of speech and many of them being, well, we support a particular party, the democrat party in the united states, and we need to make sure we are not taking on any cases that would look bad for a particular governor or senator or even president of the united states. yeah. absolutist, rarely. but constitution, yes. sarah: another question. yes, down here. >> hi. i am sarah clark and i work for the leadership institute specifically over campus events. very few heckler stuff happening at this point. what we are running into is gobs of bureaucratic red tape everywhere. we know student governments and all of this. what other ways can we show the students like how to roll some of those back? can we

it has backed apart by the aclu and advancing justice claiming three main points. those particularly in the asian american community had water access restricted. they were targeted for traffic stops and illegal lien practices according to complaints. >> they had done so with the intention to try this community out of the county. >> those, like russell. for him, peter and so many others, this county is their home where they plan to stay, raise their kids, and fight. >> if this can happen, it can happen to any county here in california. it can happen in any state within the united states. >> jackie spear is looking to memorialize the january 6th insurrection to help solidify its place in history. she is proposing the creation of a mural at the u.s. capitol depicting the attacks. if approved, the mural would join a long list of historically significant murals inside of the building including the 1814 burning of the capital by the british and the use of the capitol rotunda as an infirmary during the civil war. >> the capital is history. it is also a history on the wall

. >> sean: so, mollie, your take, is the aclu going to file suit over this one?what it claims to be and it is a group that seems to be all about preserving or amplifying power on the left. but i do think this will face legal challenges from actual civil libertarians and actual people who care about making sure that racism doesn't creep into this country or into our schools. >> sean: mollie, i have nine kids and like every parent out there, i don't care what your sex is. i don't care your sexual preference or race. i just want good teachers teaching my kids and that we're breaking this down by race is a sign that this country has devolved into insanity. i appreciate you joining us tonight, mollie, thank you. >> thank you. >> sean: crime is out of control all over the country. after a weekend of violence in seattle only getting worse. here to react is jason rantz. what do you have? >> you are right. seattle area crime is getting worse and in a way it's by design. so this past weekend we saw 12 shooting victims. many of them unfortunately were teenagers. there was a

a palestinian authorities are inaugurating a street named after al jazeera journalist terrain. abu aclu who was killed by israeli forces train was shot while on assignment in jeanine in may, members of the international community have condemned her killing. all right, those are the headline station. now for revel cakes, news, news, news, news, digital technology, agency, mentee, and even with the ability to do his calculations in our pocket, it seems to be discovered, i mention in which everything in our lives can be improved and tracked and intended . that is convenient, profit and surveillance. the only to the power generation are using this go to china, tech jones, and they will a different technological future. one where people are not the product be interested yeah, that's good though. yeah . yeah. well, no yeah. ah the when the dns is alluded, and those don't get either badly on the through the thorbe. you could either corbin this no. so persist almost rub a hand and if their mother less weight any at the no law he car. oh, so this i would on no got to have lab i in bolivia, they

what the doctor was pointing out, critics are saying the aclu, legal aid society, their ex-at persuadingease mentally ill people who need help in name of freedom but don't focus on medical care what is best for them. where do you come down on this debate? >> i believe these communities are under siege. when we look to what the actions of george soros are committing to, clearly causing these communities to spiral out of control. we saw a lot of the democrats or the liberal districts lose in a lot of these down-ballot elections based on the defund police agenda. clear that people in these communities want to be afforded greater protections by law enforcement, however george soros is looking through this with no peripheral vision based on the woke moment. this woke movement is a absolute, catastrophic failure. time for practitioners of law enforcement to step up to be at forefront and we need our elected officials to support them in crime to gain precipitant drops. elizabeth: darren pointed out, you have george soros pushing to fund weak on crime, d.a.s, doctor, and what you're talking abou

aclu was founded in 1920 to lead that fight but even then it was a long fight through the following decades. >> i think one of the major thesis when we were talking last week we were kind of joking that this is the first book that you've written for the current events. so can we talk a little bit about how that has evolved and how people who were marginalized or have been oppressed are the biggest beneficiaries so it's particularly important for the them to stay on guard. to this day the people that are pushingg a new idea and assert themselves politically who are the powerless and frederick douglass said speech is precious particularly for the oppressed. that is into something that is well understood by many today because we were really so successful in protecting free speech in the 50s and 60s primarily as a result of the struggles of the civil rights movementat and antiwar movement that most of the abuses that occurred in that period aren't happening today. after trump was elected, them women's march happened without incident, half a million showed up in dc, women around the country. the

the organization followed an amicus brief urging the supreme court to -- the aclu tweeting apart endingt-day racial inequality and threaten diversity on campuses everywhere. joining us now is dr. bob woodson, the president and founder of the woodson center. you know, bob, great to see you this morning by the way. this comes not too far in the hills of the aclu advocating for censorship when it comes to misinformation. now they are advocating for racial discrimination. what is your take? >> well you know this whole emphasis on race reminds me of a trio of shoplifters and suburban maryland where i live. it was a well-dressed white couple in the end black guy in a hoodie and the pair pants and he would go into a high-end store and act suspiciously and i would draw all of the security. in the well-dressed white couple would go behind them and steal everything and they would meet in the parking lot and divide up the goods. that's what's happening with this emphasis on race. it's deflecting attention away from the critical crisis facing america today. it's not racial. it is the kind of -- it'

meltdown that people primarily lawyers began to speak out on the importance of protecting free speech and aclu was founded in 1920 two leave that flight but even then it was a long flight ghand the following decade. >> and i think one of the major thesis and when we were talking last week we were kind of joking this is the first book you've written kthat is to current events. talk about how that has evolved and how people who are more marginalized or, they're the biggest beneficiaries for free speech. that's why it's particularly for them. >> the people who suffered in the 19th century on to this day, the people who suffer are the people who are pushing a new idea, trying to assert themselves politically . who don't have, who had a lot of the powerless. frederick douglass said speech is precious particularly for the oppressed. that is not something that's well understood by many today because we were really so successful in protecting free speech in the 50s and 60s, primarily as a result of the struggles of the civil rights movement and the antiwar movement that most of the abuses that occurre

aclu attorney alyssa victory is back in the race after she argues she was illegally disqualified by bureaucratic mistake. the city told her that she failed to qualify because endorsing signatures needed to be verified voters. she checked the code and found out that is not true. endorsers only have to live in oakland. the clerk office says the registrar made the mistake and confirmed that alyssa victory is back on the ballot. >> this has only brought more light to the issues going on with our city and democracy and the threats to people of color we are representing in our democracy. >>> there are two other candidates disqualified because they were given the wrong date to submit the paperwork. they will not be allowed back on the ballot. officials acknowledged the mistake the say they cannot do anything to fix it. >>> an odd night at oracle park. the giants and the padres were barely into the third inning when some of the ballpark lights went dark. that meant that the game was delayed 40 minutes. until all of the lights finally came on. we will show you how this game ended a little bit later in th

. >> reporter: the ballot battle started when the aclu attorney was disqualified two weeks ago after being told her endorsers' signatures needed to be verified voters. under the city's own code, that's not true. endorsers only have to be residents of oakland. the city clerk's office says the county registrar made the mistake, and after reviewing city code, told the candidate she's back in the race. but that's just one of multiple major mixups. >> it shows that there's some things that are broken in our government here in oakland. >> reporter: mow nietzsche mj carter is one of two other people disqualified after the clerk's office gave contenders the wrong deadline to submit their paperwork. she won't be getting back on the ballot. derek so, the third candidate disqualified is now hoping to win as a write-in candidate. >> i'm happy, but that also opens the doors possibly for the rest of us because now they have acknowledged that they did have some wrongdoing. >> reporter: but with one candidate back in the race -- >> she should be on it. >> reporter: but with one candidate back in the

. >> reporter: the aclu attorney recently submitted an election complaint to the secretary of state after being told her endorser signatures need to be verified voters. under the city's own code, that's not true. endorsers only have to be residents of oakland. the city clerk's office says the county registrar made the mistake, and after reviewing city code, they confirmed victory is back in the race. but that's just one of multiple major mixups. >> it shows that there's some things that are broken in our government here in oakland. >> reporter: this woman is one of two other people disqualified after the clerk's office gave contenders the wrong deadline to submit their paperwork. derek sho also off the ballot. >> that possibly opens the doors for the rest of us because now they have acknowledged they did have some wrongdoing. so you cancel out that wrong doing. they should just open up the balloting. >> if you qualify for the ballots, you should be on it. >> reporter: it also means the city needs to hold another drawing to see whose name will appear first on the ballot. yet another mixup

very different background, 37 years civil rights lawyer, criminal defense lawyer, i represent the aclu in all of their litigation in alabama for 20 years. i was approached out of the blue on this i think this. i considered it a great honor to represent donald trump and i saw at the time media pieces saying he was having a hard time getting lawyers. i had some of the greatest lawyers in the country willing to help me prepare for the impeachment, but there are some people who at that time had been around president trump, giving advice and vetting lawyers and want to go insinuate themselves into the situation who i think gave bad advice. so in this case they nixed some of these people because they hadn't been vetted by them and so on, sort of making themselves too self-important. so i think it's a great honor for anyone to represent president trump, any former president or president of the united states, the issues are fascinating in the case and that's my take on it. i think anyone would be honored, quite frankly. >> is he an easy guy to work for? >> he's been incredibly gracious to me o

good like shoes i didn't was seen in the clean shape as busher kim's as still dates at the, at the aclu girl always except to read and the foundation from a fill in the way, the more asi business that it was studying for him to have studied with them. operation open up on visual nose, up on so full of blood. but what i showed you must be we wouldn't be a school, but i mean for musk anything a given the, from the law? well, the for the most in thought from typical mcclung put up with that window which one 0 for sure that he said yeah, no problem buddy. let me check the quote number on it. so can i go by? yeah, it's sonya on the vice. you the what now, what, thank you for a little bit off with l. look forward to talking to you all that technology should work for people. a robot must obey the orders given by human beings. accept where such order that conflict with the 1st law show your identification. we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. and the point obviously is to rate trust rather than fear a take on various job with artificial intelligence. real, somebody with a ro

the screen like shows that it was seems clean faced as busher jims that still dates at the, at the aclu girl. always except a from a fill in the right, the more asi business that would have studied for him to if i didn't with i'm operational up on visual nose up on sort of blood. but i show you must go, he wouldn't be a school, but i mean for musk anything a given the, from the law? well, the most in thought from the commitment long, but up with that window which does double, i know for sure that he said we have no problem. but let me check that it was not a bit on the why see the what? now, what back you a little bit off with l. look forward to talking to you all. that technology should work for people. a robot must obey the orders given by human beings accept where such order that conflict with the 1st law show your identification. we should be very careful about artificial intelligence at that point, obviously is too great truck rather than fear a very job with artificial intelligence, real summoning with a robot most protective phone existence with with russia would gain popularity

is that still dates that did the aclu girl always except a from a fill in the by the most asi business study for studying there. i didn't say i'm a petition to cut it up on visual nose up on so full of blood, but i showed you must go. he wouldn't be a school, but i mean, that must be me. them a given the, from the most in thought from the performance lifelong put up with that window, which i know for sure the stuff that we have no problem with. let me check that. that was not a problem with oh, was reason is meaningless cards and like if you speak russian, keep your voice down while out and about a couple. don't put your human symbols on display a little speech nice. all right, so you guys don't talk to strangers. 7 i avoid noisy gatherings with your colleagues and perhaps also your friends think you're guilty because you'll, russian a allowed to with being a minute for a specific solution with russia would gain popularity under p to the great and the 1st russian emperor to travel widely anecdotally when he arrived at the french capital, he said, paris stinks at the stanch will be the

oh, the total spaces in the indian ocean waffle now is waiting aclu of the washing and sharma r t. u day. we heard from political experts ramelle fernando, who said the sri lankan decision was not surprising as ish as strategic economic interests with china. drilling ca, being a small nation, all saw or been going the major nature strategy neighbors as a strategy go economic interest with china and also in india, foreign policy doc change really sure to not to jeopardize the security interest of india and in so this concerns along with india being the closest neighbor and the nearest, as well as the united states and china being traditional countries that have very strong economic diplomacy, or sri lanka has to balance the economic as well as security dynamics with india and the traditional neighbors it can be benefiting in the policy because india and try not major issue and giant, and economic diplomacy with any country economic diplomacy, these 2 countries. so please read your role in sri lanka, economic uplift, ones and even bringing about human development indicators. a new pa

kim is that still the to see it, the aclu girl. always except laurie and the guy from a fill in the right, the more flashy business that i studied for him to have studied. and we have some operational up up on business up on some sort of blood. but what i showed you must be, we wouldn't be a school, but i mean, that must be more than 50. hm. that she goes to live in the, from dallas, and i need the most in thought from typical mcclung put up with that window which fed up, wow, know for sure that he said we have no family, but he let me check and it was not a bit on the vice, you wouldn't ask us what you, what the hell of it off with ah ah, ah, russia would gain popularity under p to the great and the 1st russian emperor to travel widely. anecdotally when he arrived in the french capital, he said, paris stinks at the stanch will be the death of it. under peter, the great russia became a powerful state, which of course, well its neighbors. russia was locked in on the scene before picked up the glade, but suddenly appeared under you u

i had an audience not just on the left withh libertarians, the aclu and the cato institute so that gives a flavor for how i've managed. >> how do yound do that? >> there are more places the left and right feet and what attracts the standard media attention is how many areas they have in common and finding those areas of agreement and trying to build coalitions has been a vocal point from the beginning. >> for people tuning in saying i know that name give us a sense o of some of the issues you've w worked on as a journalist over the years. >> i was a practicing lawyer focused on constitutional law and was on the platform that allowed bloggers and mostly focused on civil liberties it was a fairly narrow range of issues and over the years they began to expand. edward snowden contacted me near 2012 and said he had a large batch of documents and we got that reported. >> how did he get a hold ofu y? m?did you have any previous conversations? >> he had been a reader of mine for years. particularly critical during the bush years to be close to or differential to. he knew at the time most of us d

primarily lawyers in the beginning began to speak out about the importance of protecting free speech and aclu was founded in 1920 to lead that fight but then even then it was a long long fight through. you know in the following decades. right and what you i think one of the major thesis and you know when we were talking last week, you were kind of joking that this is the first book you've written in that, you know, it's pertinent to current events. so can talk a little bit how that has evolved and how people who are marginalized or have been oppressed? they're the biggest beneficiaries of free speech. so that's why no, it's particularly important for them to stay on guard the people who suffered. in the 19th century and on you know, and for in to this day the people who suffer are the people who are pushing a new idea who are trying themselves politically. who don't have you know who had who are the powerless and and frederick douglass said? you know speech is precious particularly for the oppressed. that is not something. that's well understood by many today because we were really so success

. palestinian authorities are inaugurating a street named after al jazeera general, assuring a bu, aclu who was killed by israeli forces sharing the shot while on assignment engineering and the occupied west bank in may. members of the international community have condemned to killing and continue to call for accountability. sharamer we found to 0 for 25 years and was known as the voice of palestine correspondent needed. abraham is in ramallah in the occupied west bank and found this report. i'm standing now at the shooting has been officially renamed today as the sharina block list, read off to me, and this is a more your plaque that has also just been unveiled by the local shown many palestinians that come here to honor city. and we're standing very closely to just the offices. this is where we're for more than 25 years. we're also very close to a square. it's a very important landmark on my luck that has with oracle event, not just when it comes to the history of from a life cell, but also of the palestinian as a whole. herd speech is why the family of city of law, maybe demanding ac

the first event i ever did was the eight aclu and the second was the cato institute so that gives you flavor for how i've managed to have these prompts with my is audience. >> how do you do that, where the left and right meet? >> there are more places than the left and right meet the other side likes to admit and the media typically conveys. i think what attracts media attention is when the left and right are fighting and they gloss over how many areas they have in common. also the left and right and i think those areas of agreement i tried to build coalition and it's been a focal point from the beginning. >> for people tuning in and saying i know that name, give us a sense of some of the issues you workedon as a journalist over the years before we get your book . >> when i first started writing i didn't go to work at the new york times, i was a practicing lawyer focused on constitutional law. i really just one day created a blog platform that allowed bloggers to be heard by an audience and mostly focused on civil liberties issues connected with the war on it was a fairly narrow range

my first book the first event i ever did was at the aclu in the second was at the cato institute, so that gives you a flavor for how managed to have these various problems to my audience. how do you do that? is it it's where the left and the right meat it seems there. i think there are more places where left and right knee then either side likes to admit and then the media typically conveys because i think what attracts standard media attention is when the left and right are fighting and that obscures how many areas they have in common. i think that you parties are have a lot more agreement than typically is observed and also the left and right and finding those areas of agreement and trying to build coalitions or foster them through my work is definitely been a focal point from the beginning well for people tuning in and saying i know that name give us a sense of some of the issues you've worked on as a journalist over the years before we get into your book. so when i first started writing him, you know, i didn't go to work at the new york times and i didn't go to columbia in journa

lot of research on the issue on the proposed rule and spoke to dozens of organizations including the aclury positive on the way we structured the rule filing and we think it's going to be a really nice way to be a first step in the journey to bring more diversity to the board r room. >> laura: he doesn't realize he'd be excluded under this search for a new corporate executive but nice martha stewart like to court. they did the research and got the okay from the liberal organizations and did not explain how it benefits corporations. what's the legal argument against it? a fiduciary claim against the corporations were doing this? >> first and foremost, the constitution and basically you've got rules that are enforced under penalty of law and the exchange act. compelled speech guarantees, the kind of discrimination on the basis of race, sex is flatly unconstitutional. >> laura: i feel good about your case here. this is a caricature of woke corporate style and substance. >> it straight you must have some of checks this box, somebody checks this box, it is awful for all kinds of reasons. >> la

you haven't heard of the aclu leaked or planned parenthood but you hear stand for america being leakedeason is any time there is a conservative group that hits a nerve with the liberal side of things, they go after them. and we are saying no more. conservatives have complained and whined for too long. i have said on your radio show multiple times republicans are too nice. no more. no more. we are going to fight back. we are going to fight back hard and i hope everybody that's watching right now will join stand for america.com and fight back with us. >> brian: what are you concerned that you get these supporters a and they say governor i like what you are doing i like this organization. i will support you. i don't need my name out there. and all of a sudden the irs somehow get their name out there. how the attorney general got it we are not exactly sure. but knowing that the irs is going to go on steroids very shortly, not many people watching right now should feel pretty secure, should they? >> what they are trying to do is intimidate conservatives. they are trying to intimidate conser

think what's also fascinating here, this really does interfere with the ability of groups like the aclusue on behalf of groups of color. they get a great deal of its money, of course, when their fees are paid when they win, which is why they see the small towns, little places, about various violations, et cetera. that's how a lot of money is made, of course. so this really interferes with the left agenda in general, to make money and to use the court systems in this framework. so it was a genius move but also, to your point, todd, this slaying of people overnight, secretly, in the middle of the night, you want to talk about abusive to people, actually not knowing where they were going, put on an airplane by the federal government when the countries they are fleeing, that alone is traumatic when you are being taken somewhere and you don't know where you're going to land. this is an entirely different dynamic. but what they don't want discussed is this brings to light what is happening at the border. of course, kayleigh, if you didn't know it was closed, this ruins the narrative. they wan

last year, the aclu sued to block the arkansas bill on behalf of four transgender youth and their familiesas well as a pair of doctors who provide care to trans youth. in immigration news, the biden administration is turning the obama-era deferred action for childhood arrivals, or daca, into a federal regulation, a move aimed at protecting the program from more legal challenges. the rule is scheduled to take effect october 31. daca has shielded hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought to the u.s. as children from deportation and granted them work permits. several republican led states have legal efforts attempting to gut daca, arguing it's illegal. last year, a federal judge in texas blocked new daca applications. the 5th circuit court of appeals is expected to issue an opinion on a challenge to that rulg later this year. a federal judge has set a noon deadline today for the justice department to release part of the affidavit used by the fbi to justify its search of former president trump's residence earlier this month at mar-a-lago. it is not known how much of the affidavit wi

when we talk about amendment 4, working for the seiu, leading the -- aclu, leading the effort here in win the hearts and minds of folks to say that people deserve second chances, people deserve to vote once they get out of prison, people with previous felonies. i had the honor of being a part of that struggle. march for our lives, i became the national organizing director, where i worked with young people from all across the country, training, educating, resourcing then, to have what they need to make a difference in their local government. whether that is working to get more community intervention, so communities can stop land before it happens, or fighting for safed are gone most. i have had the privilege of being a part of some imrtant struggles in our country's history over the past decade, want to take what i learned there from a movement organizer and bring it to congress. amy: i want to ask you about your views on israel and palestine. a few weeks ago you published a position paper where you said u.s. military aid to israel is one of the most important parts of foreign aid that

organizations such as naacp, legal defense fund, aclu, color of change and oths who have called on anto the department of justice, u.s. parole commission, the judge in the case, the bidens to let him go. he has served enough time. it is time for him to be able to live out his remaining days in the comfort of his family and friends. all of his codefendants or people who were charged in similar conspiracy, some of -- every single last one of them have been released from prison. only mutulu remains behinbars. the racism inside and outside and even in the movement in the government target people. mutulu still being targeted. amy: nkechi taifa, thank you for being here. and brad thomson the current lawyer for mutulu shakur who lives near death in prison in kentucky. brad thomson is with the people's law office in chicago. that does it for our show. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, ÑcÑcÑcÑ