amy: how long did it take? bree: 10 minutes to scale for the top. rds were there within five minutes. amy: had you ever climbed a flagpole before? bree: i had never climbed a flagpole until two days before? amy: was it hard? bree: by the time i was going it probably helped with adrenaline. amy: you practiced two days before. bree: yes. amy: this is 30 feet high. you made your way to the top. bree: i was just relieved at how simple it was to unhook the flag . our intention was not to cause property damage. we were trying to do as little disturbance beyond moving the flag. all i had to do was unhook it. from there it was amazing. amy: i'm going to play the clip as you are coming down. the police officers are telling you to get down. this is bree newsome on the flagpole taking down the confederate flag that has flown on the flagpole either their from 2000 or on the top of the state capital from 1961. >> you come against me with hatred and prejudice and violence. i come against you in the name of god, this flag comes down today. amy: tell us what it is y

amy: how did it happen? >> we should not overstate the role of diplomats. cernible] the struggles of the people. the cuban people who have resisted for a long time [indiscernible] including many, many american friends. amy: you have been a diplomat for decades. cuba was just taken off the list of terrorist nation's in the united states. how does that feel not to be considered a terrorist anymore? >> frankly speaking, the u.s. asked nelson mandela about being in that place. mandela, his entire life, when he was in prison, when he got out of prison, when he was elected president of south africa, he got the nobel peace prize he was still on the state department's list of terrorists. they took him out in 2008. i suspect because they were suspecting mandela was going to die from [indiscernible] said at the time it was a shame u.s. policy to have that list with people like mandela. the list or on the list, it doesn't matter. the embargo is a matter of other laws. amy: ricardo alarcon, thank you very much for being with us. ricardo alarcon, the former head of the c

amy: how did you and joan feel about it?nd she loved it. but it was insane that there is a song based on her. she recalls not having been quite so confident but i think she actually was she just forgets that part. she was a lot more confident than me. nermeen: you talked earlier about how you are used to your work representing a subculture. fun home, it seems as though your work has become more main train. -- more main stream. alison: everyone assumes it is a success but it does feel a little front. -- a little fraught. i'm used to pushing against the mainstream. it is a funny moment for lgbt culture and civil rights right now. i feel like the play and the success of the play is tied into what is happening in the culture , especially with the whole marriage thing. amy: the whole marriage thing you're very much a part of. and you just get married? alison: i did. i have a ring on my finger. i'm happy to be married but still am quite ambivalent about the institution. i got caught up. it is exciting to have this be legal everywh

how we're at it. come on. i knew it. i knew it. amyheodore bikel reading from the stories of sholem aleichem the forthcoming documentary " theodore bikel and the shoes of sholem aleichem." theodore bikel, if it would be presumptuous to ask how you think sholem aleichem would respond to the occupation, israel's occupation of the occupied territories that you have been very critical of? >> well, he had this notion that people survive, as i said in the documentary, you have to survive even if it kills you. survival is the prime command the first thing that we are always committed to look upon -- commanded to look upon as the be-all, end-all of what you are about. you can break all the laws as long as you can save lives. and if you don't save lives, it is not worth staying alive for. you know, this may be very naÏve , it sounds like a do-gooder and i am not only a do-gooder, i'm also a pragmatist. i know it takes a lot of hard work to do the right thing and to believe in the right thing and to defend what you believe in, but that is what i

amy: now, annie leonard shell cannot do this on their own. explain how the obama administration is involved. i saw some of the banners yesterday from the people hanging from the bridge and they had obama's name on them. annie: that is because shell does not have the final permit needed to drill. even though they spent about $4 billion and have their equipment on the way up there, they still need one final permit, so the future of the planet, in so many ways is in obama's hands. he has time to deny the permit and in a way we are doing him a favor, buying him extra time holding the ship back and stand up to be the real climate leader he says he wts to be. it is crazy they granted it at all because the department of interior's own scientists have said if an oil company drills in the region where shell wants to drill, there is a 75% chance of a major oil spill. would you get on an oil -- on an airplane with a 75% chance of crashing? it is crazy. amy: the judge said he would find greenpeace. was everyone there involved with greenpeace? the people spontaneousl

also on the right much more of a difference than the four justices on the liberal side. >> brown: amy howent to ask the question of rhetoric because it's something we all watch and you're all there in the court and reading the decisions. there's a lot of strong rhetoric this term, right? the capital execution case, we have justice scalia referring to words by justice breyer as gobbley gook. did this seem unusual? >> it did seem unusual. every term by the end of the term, in the last few years, especially, that's when a lot of the high-profile cases have been coming down and those are the cases which the justices are more likely to be closely divided. they're tired, ready for vacation, they're tired and tired of each other because they're working so hard at the end of june. but this session when you had justices scalia and the same-sex marriage case saying he would rather hide his head in a bag and sign on to an opinion that started the way justice kennedy started his opinion in the same-sex marriage case, that's really kind of remarkable. so i think there is a couple of things going on. i

come >>> amy, how are you? >> amy schumer and her "train wreck" taco-sr on the move as more details emerge in the theater shooting tragedy. >> i'm in lafayette louisiana. here we have surveillance video captured. >> we were one of the first people out. >> inside what it means for theater goers this weekend. >> metal detectors at certain movie theaters. >> and then -- >>> blake shelton out pushing a baby stroller? only we have first words on camera about the divorce. >> blake, you have any second thoughts or regrets? >>> plus, did hulk hogan just become the next paula deen? an n-word tirade. >>> also, our kim richards exclusive. sitting down with dr. phil. do you regret walking out of the interview? >> why did she miss nicki hilton's wedding and how many people does it take to keep her sober? >> chiropractors, acupuncture, trainer, my life coach. >>

thanks for letting me share >>> amy, how are you?e move as more details emerge in the theater shooting tragedy. >> i'm in lafayette louisiana. here we have surveillance video captured. >> we were one of the first people out. >> inside what it means for theater goers this weekend. >> metal detectors at certain movie theaters. >> and then -- >>> blake shelton out pushing a baby stroller? only we have first words on camera about the divorce. >> blake, you have any second thoughts or regrets? >>> plus, did hulk hogan just become the next paula deen? an n-word tirade. >>> also, our kim richards exclusive. sitting down with dr. phil. do you re

. >> amy, how do you push the guy back, if he's being prejudice against hispanic people, how do you push back without shaming him and forcing him into a third-party situation? is he going to walk away? i have to quit politicians because i've been accused as being a racist so i'll fold my tent and go away. he's not going to do that. >> he's the most dangerous candidate because he has a lot of money and absolutely no shame. he has nothing to lose. right? the more you push him, the more, you know, sort of engaged he gets. it's like what you learned about, not letting a bully, not engaging with a bully. he can keep going and keep going. i agree with michael. i think that now that he is on top, the media scrutiny is going to continue. it's not just going to be about what he says about mexican-americans. it's going to be what his positions have been on a host of issues. what his personal finances are. what he's said and done. the scrutiny is going to start and will continue in the debates. we'll see if he's still on top. >> that's when he turns on us, by the way. you get this, wisconsin govern

amy: that was essie mae washington williams. our guest, wanda williams-bailey 's mother. how difficult was that for your mother to come forward, wanda? >> it was very difficult. i spent a great deal of time with her prior to her coming out. actually, i elaborate in my manuscript i just completed that i spent years -- this was years in the making -- to encourage her to come forward. so it was a battle back-and-forth to accomplish that goal. and i had to respect her opinion, and i did not want to coerce her into doing it. it was a decision she had to make. but i thought it was a part of what needed to be told, her story. and ultimately, she had to make the final decision. and in doing so, after strom thurmond passed away, she felt, she said to me one evening, it is time. at that point, she encouraged me to go ahead and make the arrangements to do what was necessary so that she could make a public announcement. and i am proud for her that she decided to do that because she is a part of history. she rewrote history. so the fact that she came forward was a moment for all of us bec

amy: how does bernie sanders compared to hillary clinton? >> she is the old.is the state, due by the books, the old roles as paul said so nicely. she is playing the game the way the game has been played for decades. bernie sanders is saying the thinkable, saying it out loud saying it with passion putting himself forward even though the name socialist, which was supposed to be a political death sentence, as if it weren't there. and he is showing for the mass of the american people, it is not the bad word it once was. it is sort of a kind of position in which the conventional parties are so out of touch with how things have changed, that they make it easy for mr. sanders to have the kind of response he is getting. my hats off to him doing it. amy: explain what socialism means. >> that is a big one. it traditionally meant instead of private ownership of means of production, factories and land and offices, you are socializing. the government takes it over. instead of having bargaining in the market, buying and selling goods to one another, we work from a governmen

amy: describe how you were arrested.ow you came into the country and what happened next. >> we met up with a guerrilla group who were supposed to be our guides. the first days and nights are quite airy. we passed refugees freeing. weassed surrendered huts. we passed people subjected to torture. we feel the conflict level is high. after three days, we were ambushed. we are shot. i am shot through the shoulder. we raised our hands in the sky and shouted media, media international press. we were arrested. we thought we would he kicked out. ethiopia wants to make an example and scare off other journalists from entering the region. look what we can do to these two swedish guys, imagine what we can do to you. we are led through this four or five horrible days where they fabricate. to make us cooperate they stage a mock execution, where we are forced to walk towards the horizon and there is a firing squad behind us. i am told to stop, turn around. he says this is your last chance. admit you are cooperating with the terrorists o

amy: your mom raised you as a single mom. how many sisters do you have? >> there are five of us. we refer to ourselves as the fa ve five. amy: and how you want us to remember sandy? >> as someone who is unapologetically confident. and that is ok in today's world. some of the who was assertive and somebody who truly stood for what she believed in. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us, sharon cooper is sandra bland sister. sandra bland will be laid to rest. the funeral is tomorrow. cannon lambert is the attorney representing sandra bland's family. they are speaking to us from chicago. when we come back, we will be joined by the three women who started the blacklivesmatter movement, which sandy bland considered herself a proud member of. we will be back in a minute. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: this week protests across the country have called for justice in sandra bland's case. here in new york at least a dozen people were arrested wednesday after sitting down and loc

amy: explain how they got this commission and what the people of portland are doing.ie: it is actually inexplicable what they are doing and i wish i could explain it. shall is the last company that wants to drill in the arctic because it is so extreme, so dangerous. the other oil industries have said it does not make sense economically, certainly not environmentally or morally. shall -- shell has every permit it needs except for one last one and our hope is that it will give time to present obama to deny this last permit. the boat is an icebreaker and shell demands that it is on site. they are under enormous time pressure because there are only a certain amount of weeks that the region is ice free. in 2012 shell went up there and it was a disaster. they crashed. this time they promised they are safety obsessed, yet the icebreaker in alaska last week ran into something and got a 39 inch hole. it is down there getting repaired. amy: annie leonard, we have five seconds. can present obama do anything about this? annie: absolutely, he can deny the last permit and take a st

hi amy. how is times square? i'll type back, it's great. how are you? >> she heard it's hot.s, we need our shades here in times square enjoy the rest of your day. same to you, marissa mayer. see, isn't that cool? bye bye, marisa. you're supposed to smile when you text too so you know because you can look angry when you're texting like that. you can get them in app storeses on any smartphone. give it a try. george? >> thank you, amy. >>> we're going to turn to a new school making a big splash. it teaches you to be a mermaid and sara haines took the plunge. >> reporter: it's dreamy under the sea. ♪ under the sea ♪ >> reporter: and now the life of a little mermaid is becoming a reality here in new york city. this world of swimming class is taught by estonian swimming champ merle liivand. >> yes. now we're moving to the next skill because mermaids have different skills. >> reporter: what are some of the mermaid skills i'm going to learn today? >> so, mermaid kiss mermaid kicking, mermaid navigating, mermaid swimming. >> reporter: students learn all the basic techniques of swimmin

enter movie spectacular continues on the set of amy schumer fears movie train wreck. howhis is tattoo proves this summer has no shortage of r rated comedy and joining the list is hollywood new it comedian amy schumer with the first movie train wreck. and i was first on set. where will this movie go. r rated. x rated. how far are we going to go. >> it will be as r rated as possible without x. definitely don't shy away from sex drugs rock and roll. >> l teacher computer if the church basement. don't understand the concept of marriage. dress like that so nobody else wants to have sex with him. that's cool. >> amy first feature film as writer and star so with bail as -- bill as doctor who is her love interest. >> what if somebody gets ebola what do you do. >> i will not treat it. i let them die. >> it's only natural that amy will be doing what got her there. >> now is it true that a lieutenant of the scenes are based off of relevant life experiences that you have had. >> no. yes. it's definitely an exaggeration but the stuff comes from somewhere. i could i imagine all of it h

amy, how dare you. >> i didn't know you were a soprano. >> a lot of surprises right here. sliding its way to the hottest new sport this summer. keeps you cool. looks like a lot of fun. they're punching up the backyard with a whole new level diving in the kiddie pool and diving beach balls. the key words are stay safe. >> i was going to say that looks like -- it's like an onbstacle course of death hitting each other with balls and noodles. >> you know what's so funny. i look at that and i think about like you, that looks like it would beat you up. we played football -- >> i was being chased. you were the guy hitting -- >> i was hitting you. that's why i liked it. >> that's why i'm over here. >> that's "pop news." >> thanks tough guys. >>> a lot more ahead this morning. "pixels" and "pretty little liar star" ashley benson. >> and rachel mcadams is here and kicking up our morning with a splish. the ultimate slip 'n slide live in times square. >> good morning 8:27, thursday july 23. let's head over to karen rogers she is keeping an eye on the accident in delaware, good morning

he is actually one of the great guys i've met really good guy. >> when it come how much amy schumer, im how much is it like hey we're sticking to the lines, how much of this improve going off the cuff making it funnier? >> well, usually what we do, we do three, four takes of the script, which is really good. and then i say okay, let's play let's see what else everybody else has. and when you hire like tons of funny people, you know, like colony quinn mike, david -- all of these hilarious people in the movie you just want to let them also show you their ideas. >> yes yes. >> you know, excuse me what is it about aimy? she is just really exploded over the last year or so. what is it? is she like a girl next-door but dirty talker and drinks? she is great. >> she says anything. >> well, i think, you know, just very honest. i think, you know, train wreck, people like this exist in the world but they don't make movies about them very often. and, you know, she is really funny. and i think people love her her show has been amazing this year she does a lot of controversial sketches that are fin

amy. she's not here to say how she feels. reat job staying close to amy in the film and making you really understand who she was. you can't avoid the darkness that came with that story. >> one of the things i think the filmmakers do so brilliantly is sort of reveal to us how talented she was. we're going to show a short clip that shows that straight away. ♪ ♪ i died a hundred times ♪ ♪ you go back to her and i go back >> you know putting the lyrics on screen is a brilliant way of showing people how amy could write as well as giving us a chance to listen to her beautiful voice. when did you become aware of her genius as a songwriter. >> the first time i ever realized amy could write. when i first met her she told me she didn't write songs. i think it was her defense mechanism, they're so personal she didn't want to show me straight away. she showed them to me on paper, i thought they were very poetic and reading them i couldn't believe how smart they are, they have double meaning. a lot of her lyrics are saying something quite

the city administrator who was in my previous role in trying to figure out what joaquin and amy and others and how we continue to work with the arts to revitalize and bring forward life because when you have nothing, you still got art. you got a history to talk about. so when we had all of those meetings at the wonderful hasteings college, they did a great partnership community and it was neat to tell those stories of what we needed others to do to get people involved. that's why i'm not surprised to explaining the idea of the uptown in the tenderloin in this fashion to be so sustainable that a larger fate is happening particularly in the tenderloin area and we celebrated those milestones on a basin which is more and more to come. but there is investor competence that is also there. there will be companies that will i think appreciate this even more. that's why there is neighbor nest. that's created for low income families that are part of the technologies contribution. there will be more of that as the cba's get more life into the community benefit agreements and all the technology employees. the

amy: your thoughts, medea benjamin? how many times of you been to cuba? n cuba from 1979 to 1983 and i've been back to cuba many, many times. the last time was in may. amy: leaving major delegations. >> we took 150 people honor last delegation. we are encouraging people to go. you talk about what the future may bring, i think that depends a lot on how much we push, if we encourage people to go. it is still illegal to lie on a beach in cuba. amy: what do you mean? >> it is illegal to go as a tourist. you have to squeeze yourself into one of the 12 categories, which is quite easy now educational -- anyone can say i'm going for educational purposes. but it is ridiculous we still have to do that. so the more people who go, the more this will be reversible the more congress will feel the pressure. there are hundreds of thousands of americans who are going to cuba. the numbers have increased by 50% since the announcement was made. i think it is now part of people's political duty as progressives to go to cuba and just keep the opening -- make a grow bigger and b

more on what leyla was talking about, the fire near the glen park bart station with amy hollyfield with howuation looks now. amy? >> yes, as first they were told this would be major delays but the commuters we have talked to all sound very calm and took it in stride. the passengers are sleepy this morning and some were not aware what was going on and a woman said she was asleeped and she was not keeping up on what was going on and a lot of people are going through the motions but it could have been a crisis but it was averted there was a fire at 5:55 and a train operator called it and called it in. they stopped the plains between glen park and balboa, a vegetation fire. officials got it out and bart officials got the fire out and trains running again but a man was caught up in the delay. a couple of delays and that is it. >> did they tell you what was happening? something about a fire on the tracks and what was the reaction? >> it did not present a danger. relaxed commuters and the fire is out. no damage to the train or tracks but the asuit train operator was alert and noticed the surroundi

amy: reynolds, how did you get the clemency? you had been in jail already for 18 years?yes, the process began long before i filed paperwork. i worked for a lady in the educational department named janice. i was a tutor. we had dialogue. a guy that president bush had pardoned, yeah life sentence and had been imprisoned for a years, when she told me what happened with him, he worked with us as a leadership library kirk clerk, she said, why don't you file for clemency? facing things for my past and being held accountable for it, it was hard for me to see why they would give me another chance. i faced issues -- amy: we have 10 seconds. >> ok. it was a process. i'm glad i had it. great support group and then i had an attorney that said, yes, she would help me. amy: we will continue to follow what happened is week with president obama in the first sitting president to visit a prison, that in obama. reynolds wintersmith and cynthia roseberry, thank you for being with us. that does it for our show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed capt