democracynow--2020-08-31--Headlines for August 31, 2020

Headlines for August 31, 2020

In Portland , Oregon , one person was shot dead Saturday at a pro-Trump caravan rally .
The man who was killed was wearing a hat with the insignia of far-right group Patriot Prayer .
The identity of the shooter is still unknown .
Before the fatal shooting , the pro-Trump caravan clashed with anti-racist protesters who have been taking to the streets for three straight months following the police killing of George Floyd .
In the span of several hours early Sunday , President Trump unleashed a tweetstorm in which he , among other things , retweeted conspiracy theories @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remove him from office .
He also attacked Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler .
This is Mayor Wheeler responding to Trump Sunday .
Mayor Ted Wheeler : “ It ’ s you who have created the hate and the division .
It ’ s you who have not found a way to say the names of black people killed by police officers , even as people in law enforcement have , and it ’ s you who claimed that white supremacists are good people .
Your campaign of fear is as anti-democratic as anything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and vitriol in our beautiful country.
” In related news , an appeals court last week halted an order protecting journalists and legal observers in Portland from being removed by federal agents .

In Portland, Oregon, one person was shot dead Saturday at a pro-Trump caravan rally. The man who was killed was wearing a hat with the insignia of far-right group Patriot Prayer. The identity of the shooter is still unknown. Before the fatal shooting, the pro-Trump caravan clashed with antiracist protesters who have been taking to the streets for three straight months following the police killing of George Floyd. In the span of several hours early Sunday, President Trump unleashed a tweetstorm in which he, among other things, retweeted conspiracy theories about the protests being a coup to remove him from office. He also attacked Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. This is Mayor Wheeler responding to Trump Sunday.
Mayor Ted Wheeler: “It’s you who have created the hate and the division. It’s you who have not found a way to say the names of Black people killed by police officers, even as people in law enforcement have. And it’s you who claimed that white supremacists are good people. Your campaign of fear is as anti-democratic as anything you’ve done to create hate and vitriol in our beautiful country.”
In related news, an appeals court last week halted an order protecting journalists and legal observers in Portland from being removed by federal agents.


democracynow--2020-09-01--Hurricane Laura Floods ICE Jails in Louisiana as Asylum Seekers from Cameroon Strike over Conditions

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Juan González .
We turn now to Louisiana , where residents of areas devastated by Hurricane Laura may be forced to go weeks or months without power .
And people held in immigration jails there report horrific conditions .
Immigrants detained at the LaSalle and Jackson Parish correctional centers say the two jails are flooded with urine and feces after the storm .
They don ’ t have electricity , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a video posted on Facebook by a man inside the Jackson Parish detention center after Hurricane Laura .
AMY GOODMAN : “ Please help if you can , ” he says .
Two immigrants held at the Jackson Parish Jail , which is run by LaSalle Corrections , said they were held in the same cramped room as people with COVID-19 symptoms who later tested positive .
At least eight new immigration jails have opened in Louisiana under Trump , and some that are former prisons .
Some of the immigrants being held @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after Immigration and Customs Enforcement refused to comply with public health safety guidelines and release people from a crowded detention center .
Many are also from Cameroon .
And for more , we ’ re joined by Sylvie Bello , founder of the Cameroon American Council , one of the leading immigration advocacy groups working with Black and African communities in the U.S. Sylvie Bello , welcome to Democracy Now !
Can you explain the dire conditions , how many Cameroonians are in these jails , and what they ’ re facing now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ BELLO : Bonjour , Amy .
Hi .
I just want to do the Wakanda salute , since Black Panther is African .
Yes , this is a very timely discussion — thank you — especially for African Immigrant Heritage Month .
Right now we have about 10,000 Cameroonians at various stages of asylum seeking coming through the southern border , many of them coming through Tijuana on the California side and transferred to Louisiana .
Right now at Pine Prairie , Louisiana , the detention center there , which is a privately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there are over 40 Cameroonians , who are on hunger strike , Amy .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And could you talk about how the Black asylum seekers are disproportionately targeted by ICE and placed in these dehumanizing conditions ?
SYLVIE BELLO : Absolutely .
Well , Juan , as you know , the immigration system , as it is today , is as a direct result of Black people in America , right ?
Because 400 years ago , when our ancestors were stolen from the shores of Bimbia , Cameroon , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ banned immigration from Africa — right ?
— while the rest of the world could get immigration .
Now fast-forward after the Haitian revolution .
You know , to make sure that the enslaved Africans get no ideas of revolt in America , they put further bans within the immigration system .
Now after the civil rights movement , we got the Immigration Act .
So , what it is , is the current immigration system is based on the racist practices , the white supremacy of 400 years .
And so , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ essentially fleeing , you know , our ancestors being enslaved , they ’ re fleeing colonization , they ’ re fleeing foreign policy from just the heavy militarization from the U.S. from across the world , including Cameroon .
And they get to America and are still being subjected to anti-Blackness , anti-Africanness , that , quite frankly , up to today , still favors non-Africans and non-Blacks .
For instance , in California , you know , in detention centers like Adelanto and Otay Mesa , you have — everyone else gets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Cameroonian , we just were part of an advocacy where we released the Cameroonians for $ 50,000 bond , $ 35,000 bond .
The U.S. should not be charging that high of a bond for Black people , when , instead , they should be paying Black people reparation .
And the reasons why they give these large sums for bonds , they say we don ’ t have family ties .
How are we supposed to have family ties , Juan , when for 400 years we were banned from coming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to make those strong family ties like every other country that could come here all willy-nilly ?
So , those are just one of many , many , many ways .
And , of course , as you know — right ?
— in this time of racial reckoning , when we ’ re looking into the criminal justice system , it ’ s the same exact law enforcement within ICE — right ?
— where because Black communities are overpoliced , you know , as Black immigrants , who are part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Louima , for instance , the Haitian immigrant .
Take Amadou Diallo in New York , right ?
So , Black immigrants are part of the Black community and part of the African American community , which is overpoliced and racist .
And that leads to higher deportation , as well as higher incarceration and just worse treatment , especially in places like in the South — right ?
— like in Louisiana , where a lot of the — if you look at from Katrina to Laura to coronavirus , the disparities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and it ’ s no different in the immigration system and in detention .
AMY GOODMAN : I wanted to go to law enforcement officers clashing with protesters outside of the Pine Prairie ICE Detention Center last month in Louisiana , using tear gas and pepper spray to clear the protesters .
This is an activist speaking with local news station KRQE .
AMY GOODMAN : So , if you can talk , Sylvie Bello , about the Cameroon hunger strikers and also about the death of the Cameroonian immigrant Nebane Abienwi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much .
We are just so grateful to our friends at the New Orleans Workers Group and to Rebecca , who is a Cameroonian herself , out there in New Orleans , who showed up in solidarity on Freedom Friday .
So , Juneteenth of this year — right ?
— at Pine Prairie , the Cameroonians led a protest .
They tapped into those themes of freedom from their ancestors — right ?
— the last of their ancestors who got their freedom .
They tapped into that and protested the racist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the racism within the detention system .
And our friend — and so , from then on , every Friday , we have what we call Freedom Friday , where we have phone zaps , we have email blasts .
And , you know , our friends , student solidarity , a hundred of them , yes , they were tear-gassed , but guess what : The men at Pine Prairie felt the love .
They were banging on the doors , even though they were held in confinement so they could not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comrades who were out there protesting for them in solidarity .
They were banging on the door .
They could feel the — they could feel the love that was coming out from the people of Louisiana .
There were about a hundred of them out there , including , like I said , our fellow Cameroonian diasporan Rebecca .
So , what it is , is that these protests inside — right ?
— this is not the first time these Cameroonian men have protested anti-Blackness and anti-Cameroonianists .
In February , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
You know , they went on a hunger strike , as well .
Prior to that — right ?
— throughout the route from Ecuador , they leave — they flee five armed conflicts in Cameroon , get to Ecuador and then trek eight countries to the U.S.-Mexico border .
In Mexico , they are met with anti-Blackness .
And that is why , at Tapachula , which is the southernmost part of Mexico , you know , the Cameroonians protested there .
They protested , as well , in Tijuana .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ getting into America is very rigid , in general , with MPP and Trump ’ s racist , racist policies .
But also anti-Blackness does not stop in America .
In Mexico , the Mexican government will let everybody else through except the Africans .
So , these Cameroonians , by the time they get into the U.S. detention centers , are already known as troublemakers , right ?
They ’ re already known as , “ Hey , you know what ?
We ’ ve got to watch out for them.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ones who protested or went on hunger strikes .
Cameroonian women at Hutto Detention Center on the outsides of Austin , Texas , 150 of them protested the same racist and anti-Blackness within the detention center .
Right now they are on hunger strike .
And it ’ s really been terrible because they ’ ve been put on solitary confinement .
And what happens in solitary confinement is that you get — you know , because already you are on hunger strike , ICE does not want you doing that — right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they want you fed .
And they are saying , you know , if they ’ re going to get deported , if they ’ re going to go through all of these trials and tribulations after they ’ ve crossed eight countries to get here — SYLVIE BELLO : — they want to use their bodies as resistance .
SYLVIE BELLO : We are , you know , so grateful for this platform , Amy .
We would love for folks to join us every Friday for Freedom Friday .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Hurricane Laura , in Louisiana have experienced tremendous , tremendous outbreaks of not just coronavirus , but other forms .
For instance , they have no running water right now .
They have —their medications are being kept .
We have a young man who has been there for two years .
AMY GOODMAN : Sylvie Bello , we ’ re going to have to leave it there , but I thank you so much , and we ’ ll continue to follow this story .
Founder of the Cameroon American Council @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Juan González .
Stay safe .
Save lives .
Wear a mask .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. We turn now to Louisiana, where residents of areas devastated by Hurricane Laura may be forced to go weeks or months without power. And people held in immigration jails there report horrific conditions. Immigrants detained at the LaSalle and Jackson Parish correctional centers say the two jails are flooded with urine and feces after the storm. They don’t have electricity, clean food or water. This is a video posted on Facebook by a man inside the Jackson Parish detention center after Hurricane Laura.
IMMIGRANT DETAINEE: People are trying to run out because of the coronavirus. We’ve got 25 cases in Jackson Parish. The hurricane stopped up the water. No water, no electricity. Everybody’s going insane, all ICE detention centers. Please help if you can.
AMY GOODMAN: “Please help if you can,” he says. Two immigrants held at the Jackson Parish Jail, which is run by LaSalle Corrections, said they were held in the same cramped room as people with COVID-19 symptoms who later tested positive. At least eight new immigration jails have opened in Louisiana under Trump, and some that are former prisons. Some of the immigrants being held in Louisiana were transferred there from Florida after Immigration and Customs Enforcement refused to comply with public health safety guidelines and release people from a crowded detention center. Many are also from Cameroon.
And for more, we’re joined by Sylvie Bello, founder of the Cameroon American Council, one of the leading immigration advocacy groups working with Black and African communities in the U.S.
Sylvie Bello, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you explain the dire conditions, how many Cameroonians are in these jails, and what they’re facing now, especially after the hurricane?
SYLVIE BELLO: Bonjour, Amy. Hi. I just want to do the Wakanda salute, since Black Panther is African. Yes, this is a very timely discussion — thank you — especially for African Immigrant Heritage Month.
Right now we have about 10,000 Cameroonians at various stages of asylum seeking coming through the southern border, many of them coming through Tijuana on the California side and transferred to Louisiana. Right now at Pine Prairie, Louisiana, the detention center there, which is a privately owned detention center owned by GEO, there are over 40 Cameroonians, who are on hunger strike, Amy.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And could you talk about how the Black asylum seekers are disproportionately targeted by ICE and placed in these dehumanizing conditions?
SYLVIE BELLO: Absolutely. Well, Juan, as you know, the immigration system, as it is today, is as a direct result of Black people in America, right? Because 400 years ago, when our ancestors were stolen from the shores of Bimbia, Cameroon, and sold to the Americas, the U.S. banned immigration from Africa — right? — while the rest of the world could get immigration. Now fast-forward after the Haitian revolution. You know, to make sure that the enslaved Africans get no ideas of revolt in America, they put further bans within the immigration system. Now after the civil rights movement, we got the Immigration Act. So, what it is, is the current immigration system is based on the racist practices, the white supremacy of 400 years.
And so, when we have these Cameroonians that are essentially fleeing, you know, our ancestors being enslaved, they’re fleeing colonization, they’re fleeing foreign policy from just the heavy militarization from the U.S. from across the world, including Cameroon. And they get to America and are still being subjected to anti-Blackness, anti-Africanness, that, quite frankly, up to today, still favors non-Africans and non-Blacks. For instance, in California, you know, in detention centers like Adelanto and Otay Mesa, you have — everyone else gets bonds, but when it’s a Cameroonian, we just were part of an advocacy where we released the Cameroonians for $50,000 bond, $35,000 bond. The U.S. should not be charging that high of a bond for Black people, when, instead, they should be paying Black people reparation. And the reasons why they give these large sums for bonds, they say we don’t have family ties. How are we supposed to have family ties, Juan, when for 400 years we were banned from coming to America? How are we supposed to make those strong family ties like every other country that could come here all willy-nilly? So, those are just one of many, many, many ways.
And, of course, as you know — right? — in this time of racial reckoning, when we’re looking into the criminal justice system, it’s the same exact law enforcement within ICE — right? — where because Black communities are overpoliced, you know, as Black immigrants, who are part of that community — take [Abner] Louima, for instance, the Haitian immigrant. Take Amadou Diallo in New York, right? So, Black immigrants are part of the Black community and part of the African American community, which is overpoliced and racist. And that leads to higher deportation, as well as higher incarceration and just worse treatment, especially in places like in the South — right? — like in Louisiana, where a lot of the — if you look at from Katrina to Laura to coronavirus, the disparities in the Black communities are just heightened, and it’s no different in the immigration system and in detention.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to law enforcement officers clashing with protesters outside of the Pine Prairie ICE Detention Center last month in Louisiana, using tear gas and pepper spray to clear the protesters. This is an activist speaking with local news station KRQE.
PROTESTER: We are out here today to say that we are against this ICE concentration camp being in our state. We are against our tax dollars being used to cage people en masse for nothing other than from where they’re from. And we are saying that if you say this is the land of the free, why in Louisiana do we have more people incarcerated than any other place in the world? … My hands were up, and we were all tear-gassed for nothing but standing on the side of the road and using our right to free speech.
AMY GOODMAN: So, if you can talk, Sylvie Bello, about the Cameroon hunger strikers and also about the death of the Cameroonian immigrant Nebane Abienwi?
SYLVIE BELLO: Thank you so much. We are just so grateful to our friends at the New Orleans Workers Group and to Rebecca, who is a Cameroonian herself, out there in New Orleans, who showed up in solidarity on Freedom Friday. So, Juneteenth of this year — right? — at Pine Prairie, the Cameroonians led a protest. They tapped into those themes of freedom from their ancestors — right? — the last of their ancestors who got their freedom. They tapped into that and protested the racist judges in the immigration system, protested the racism within the detention system. And our friend — and so, from then on, every Friday, we have what we call Freedom Friday, where we have phone zaps, we have email blasts. And, you know, our friends, student solidarity, a hundred of them, yes, they were tear-gassed, but guess what: The men at Pine Prairie felt the love. They were banging on the doors, even though they were held in confinement so they could not go into the yard and see our comrades who were out there protesting for them in solidarity. They were banging on the door. They could feel the — they could feel the love that was coming out from the people of Louisiana. There were about a hundred of them out there, including, like I said, our fellow Cameroonian diasporan Rebecca.
So, what it is, is that these protests inside — right? — this is not the first time these Cameroonian men have protested anti-Blackness and anti-Cameroonianists. In February, during Black History Month, they protested. You know, they went on a hunger strike, as well. Prior to that — right? — throughout the route from Ecuador, they leave — they flee five armed conflicts in Cameroon, get to Ecuador and then trek eight countries to the U.S.-Mexico border. In Mexico, they are met with anti-Blackness. And that is why, at Tapachula, which is the southernmost part of Mexico, you know, the Cameroonians protested there. They protested, as well, in Tijuana. Why? Because just the system of getting into America is very rigid, in general, with MPP and Trump’s racist, racist policies. But also anti-Blackness does not stop in America. In Mexico, the Mexican government will let everybody else through except the Africans. So, these Cameroonians, by the time they get into the U.S. detention centers, are already known as troublemakers, right? They’re already known as, “Hey, you know what? We’ve got to watch out for them.”
And they’re not the only ones who protested or went on hunger strikes. Cameroonian women at Hutto Detention Center on the outsides of Austin, Texas, 150 of them protested the same racist and anti-Blackness within the detention center. Right now they are on hunger strike. And it’s really been terrible because they’ve been put on solitary confinement. And what happens in solitary confinement is that you get — you know, because already you are on hunger strike, ICE does not want you doing that — right? — because they want you alive, they want you fed. And they are saying, you know, if they’re going to get deported, if they’re going to go through all of these trials and tribulations after they’ve crossed eight countries to get here —
AMY GOODMAN: Ten seconds.
SYLVIE BELLO: — they want to use their bodies as resistance.
AMY GOODMAN: Ten seconds, on the final call?
SYLVIE BELLO: We are, you know, so grateful for this platform, Amy. We would love for folks to join us every Friday for Freedom Friday. The men in detention, with Laura, with Hurricane Laura, in Louisiana have experienced tremendous, tremendous outbreaks of not just coronavirus, but other forms. For instance, they have no running water right now. They have —their medications are being kept. We have a young man who has been there for two years.
AMY GOODMAN: Sylvie Bello, we’re going to have to leave it there, but I thank you so much, and we’ll continue to follow this story. Founder of the Cameroon American Council. That does it for our broadcast. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Stay safe. Save lives. Wear a mask.


democracynow--2020-09-01--Kenosha Police Under Scrutiny for 2018 Case of Chrystul Kizer, Black Teen Jailed for Killing Abuser

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Juan González .
President Trump is heading to Kenosha , Wisconsin , today despite fierce opposition to his visit and as protests over the police shooting of unarmed Black father Jacob Blake continue .
On Monday , Trump defended 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse , the white militia member who opened fire on Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha last week , killing two of them .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kenosha police chief and county sheriff to resign , after Kenosha police allowed Rittenhouse to leave the scene after gunning down the protesters .
Video shows police officers offering members of the armed white mob water earlier in the night .
Rittenhouse faces up to life in prison , was charged with first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide .
Well , Jacob Blake ’ s shooting by a police officer and the police behavior in the streets of Kenosha have brought renewed scrutiny to another case from 2018 : that of Black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of killing her alleged sex trafficker , a 34-year-old white man , when she was just 17 years old .
Court records show that the man , Randall Volar , had a history of sexually abusing underage Black girls as young as 12 .
That was known to the Kenosha police , but he remained free for months .
Then , in June 2018 , Kizer says she shot and killed Volar in self-defense after he drugged her and tried to rape her .
Chrystul Kizer was freed from jail on a $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fighting her case .
She faces life in prison .
A key figure in this story is Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley , the prosecutor in Kizer ’ s case , who will also decide how to prosecute the officers involved in Jacob Blake ’ s shooting .
Well , for more on this story and the role of the Kenosha police and prosecutors in it , we go to Akron , Ohio , where we ’ re joined by Washington Post reporter Jessica Contrera , who has covered this story extensively @ @ @ @ @ @ @ piece headlined “ He was sexually abusing underage girls .
Then , police said , one of them killed him.
” So , Jessica , thanks for joining us .
Why don ’ t you go back to 2018 and talk about what happened and why Chrystul Kizer ended up in jail and is facing life in prison ?
JESSICA CONTRERA : Thanks so much for having me .
Yes , Chrystul Kizer was 16 years old when she met Randy Volar .
She was living in Milwaukee at the time .
Her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they were in and out of homelessness .
Randy Volar was sexually abusing Chrystul for over a year .
We know this because he filmed it , and there ’ s video evidence of him filming sexual abuse of other underage Black girls .
In June of 2018 , Chrystul says she went to his house one night because she had had a fight with her boyfriend , that she was hoping to just find refuge in this adult , who she had come to trust .
And what happened was that in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shot and killed Randy Volar .
She had brought a gun with her to his house .
She lit the house on fire , and she fled in his car .
The prosecutors in the case say that Chrystul premeditated the murder , that she intended to go there and kill Mr. Volar in — they say , because she was interested in stealing his car .
Chrystul tells an entirely different story .
I ’ ve spoken to her at length from jail .
She says that she was acting in self-defense @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the center of this case that says everything about the sexual trauma that so many young Black girls go through when they are trafficked , and what can happen .
She is not the first sex trafficking victim to be criminalized for what she says is self-defense , but her case took place in Kenosha .
And so , it really says a lot about the police force there , the prosecutors there .
And she ’ s now out , but she is still charged with life in prison — or , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with first-degree intentional homicide and could face life in prison .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Jessica Contrera , when you talk about what this says a lot about the criminal justice system in Kenosha , we recall that after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson , it was discovered that there had been systematic abuse by the police in the Black community almost as — in terms of tickets and warrants , to basically raise revenue for the town , that were directed against the Black community .
What have you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police have dealt with situations or crimes within the — that affect the Black community ?
JESSICA CONTRERA : Yes , I can speak to what happened to Chrystul specifically .
We know that when Chrystul — at the time that Chrystul was being sexually abused by Randy Volar , he was under investigation from the Kenosha Police Department .
The Kenosha Police Department actually arrested him in February .
And during the course of that arrest , they raided his home and found video evidence that — they found video evidence that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black girls .
They didn ’ t know how old these girls were .
In their documents , they said that they believed that some of the girls appeared to be as young as 12 .
They also found video evidence that he had hundreds , they said , of videos of child pornography .
But on that very same day , they released Randy Volar .
And three months passed before they turned that evidence over to the district attorney .
And even once the district attorney had that evidence , 12 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and they no longer could prosecute the case .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And what was the — JUAN GONZÁLEZ : What was the reason for the three-month delay in turning over the evidence to the district attorney ?
JESSICA CONTRERA : So , the Kenosha Police Department would not comment for my story .
They still have not provided a reason for that .
The Kenosha district attorney says that they had assigned a sex crimes prosecutor to the case and were under continued investigation , trying to figure out things like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ charges were available .
But we spoke , in the course of our reporting , to other district attorneys , other prosecutors who have experience with sex crimes , who say that this case , with so much video evidence , was something that should have been handled in a much different way .
AMY GOODMAN : You were with Chrystul ’ s mother when she opened the boxes of evidence that had been gotten under discovery ?
Is that right , Jessica ?
Can you describe what she saw ?
I mean @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of pictures and videotapes — that the police had when they released him .
JESSICA CONTRERA : Yes .
So , in the course of our reporting , I of course tried to get access to the investigative file on Mr. Volar , and the police continued to deny that request .
But Chrystul had access to that information and — while she was in jail .
And because she moved between jail and a prison at the time , the box that the evidence was in was actually mailed to her mother @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her mother when she was seeing for the first time a partial report of the investigation into Mr. Volar .
And there were a number of pictures that were screenshots from these videos , including a screenshot of her daughter , that she could see that police had evidence that her daughter was with this man , and that they had this evidence that he was abusing not only her , but multiple girls .
It was just devastating to watch .
I can ’ t describe .
You know , her mother @ @ @ @ @ @ @ screaming .
And her mom was grappling with the fact that if this man had been arrested and if he had been held , her daughter wouldn ’ t have done what she did , and her daughter wouldn ’ t be facing life in prison .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And could you talk about the affirmative defense for child sex trafficking victims that Chrystul Kizer ’ s legal team is attempting to use in this case ?
JESSICA CONTRERA : Yes .
Thank you so much for asking .
That ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So , in many states , there are versions of what ’ s called the affirmative defense for sex trafficking victims .
So , in this case , Chrystul was clearly a sex trafficking victim because she was underage at the time .
And so , what the affirmative defense allows someone to do is point to a crime that they committed and say that they committed that crime because they were a sex trafficking victim at the time .
Now , this is something that is used frequently across the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It is also sometimes used for things that young women , in most cases , can be forced into , such as robbery or carrying drugs .
It has not , anywhere across the country , been used in a case of a homicide .
And Chrystul Kizer ’ s defense team says that in this particular circumstance she should be allowed to use the affirmative defense to explain what happened .
AMY GOODMAN : And Graveley ?
Can you talk about the DA ?
Because that goes to this case today @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you to comment on , and Jacob Blake , but he is the DA involved in both cases .
JESSICA CONTRERA : Yes , absolutely .
So , Michael Graveley is the district attorney of Kenosha County .
And he , in Chrystul ’ s case , has been at the center of it from the very beginning .
He has resisted being swayed by public opinion in any way , and I think he would be the first to tell you that , that even though there are over 100,000 signatures on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protesters have come to his office and have come to where he teaches to try to get him to listen , to understand what they see as Chrystul as a victim , he has been very persistent in saying that he will not be swayed by public opinion .
And I think we saw that in his reaction after Jacob Blake .
He got up to the microphone and said that a thorough investigation would be conducted , of course , before he came to any decision , and that he would make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the results of the investigation .
AMY GOODMAN : Jessica Contrera , we want to thank you for being with us , reporter at The Washington Post .
We ’ re going to link to your piece that you did on Chrystul Kizer ’ s case .
That piece is headlined “ He was sexually abusing underage girls .
Then , police said , one of them killed him.
” This certainly is reminiscent of the Cyntoia Brown case .
This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org .
When we come back , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ areas devastated by Hurricane Laura .
We ’ re going to go to those in immigration jails .
Stay with us .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
President Trump is heading to Kenosha, Wisconsin, today despite fierce opposition to his visit and as protests over the police shooting of unarmed Black father Jacob Blake continue. On Monday, Trump defended 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, the white militia member who opened fire on Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha last week, killing two of them. This comes as calls are growing for the Kenosha police chief and county sheriff to resign, after Kenosha police allowed Rittenhouse to leave the scene after gunning down the protesters. Video shows police officers offering members of the armed white mob water earlier in the night. Rittenhouse faces up to life in prison, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide.
Well, Jacob Blake’s shooting by a police officer and the police behavior in the streets of Kenosha have brought renewed scrutiny to another case from 2018: that of Black teenager Chrystul Kizer, who faces charges of killing her alleged sex trafficker, a 34-year-old white man, when she was just 17 years old. Court records show that the man, Randall Volar, had a history of sexually abusing underage Black girls as young as 12. That was known to the Kenosha police, but he remained free for months. Then, in June 2018, Kizer says she shot and killed Volar in self-defense after he drugged her and tried to rape her. Chrystul Kizer was freed from jail on a $400,000 bail in June but is still fighting her case. She faces life in prison. A key figure in this story is Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley, the prosecutor in Kizer’s case, who will also decide how to prosecute the officers involved in Jacob Blake’s shooting.
Well, for more on this story and the role of the Kenosha police and prosecutors in it, we go to Akron, Ohio, where we’re joined by Washington Post reporter Jessica Contrera, who has covered this story extensively. Last year she wrote an in-depth piece headlined “He was sexually abusing underage girls. Then, police said, one of them killed him.”
So, Jessica, thanks for joining us. Why don’t you go back to 2018 and talk about what happened and why Chrystul Kizer ended up in jail and is facing life in prison?
JESSICA CONTRERA: Thanks so much for having me.
Yes, Chrystul Kizer was 16 years old when she met Randy Volar. She was living in Milwaukee at the time. Her family had moved there recently, and they were in and out of homelessness. Randy Volar was sexually abusing Chrystul for over a year. We know this because he filmed it, and there’s video evidence of him filming sexual abuse of other underage Black girls.
In June of 2018, Chrystul says she went to his house one night because she had had a fight with her boyfriend, that she was hoping to just find refuge in this adult, who she had come to trust. And what happened was that in the middle of the night, Chrystul shot and killed Randy Volar. She had brought a gun with her to his house. She lit the house on fire, and she fled in his car. The prosecutors in the case say that Chrystul premeditated the murder, that she intended to go there and kill Mr. Volar in — they say, because she was interested in stealing his car. Chrystul tells an entirely different story. I’ve spoken to her at length from jail. She says that she was acting in self-defense.
And basically, Chrystul is at the center of this case that says everything about the sexual trauma that so many young Black girls go through when they are trafficked, and what can happen. She is not the first sex trafficking victim to be criminalized for what she says is self-defense, but her case took place in Kenosha. And so, it really says a lot about the police force there, the prosecutors there. And she’s now out, but she is still charged with life in prison — or, excuse me, she is still charged with first-degree intentional homicide and could face life in prison.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Jessica Contrera, when you talk about what this says a lot about the criminal justice system in Kenosha, we recall that after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, it was discovered that there had been systematic abuse by the police in the Black community almost as — in terms of tickets and warrants, to basically raise revenue for the town, that were directed against the Black community. What have you found in your reporting of how Kenosha police have dealt with situations or crimes within the — that affect the Black community?
JESSICA CONTRERA: Yes, I can speak to what happened to Chrystul specifically. We know that when Chrystul — at the time that Chrystul was being sexually abused by Randy Volar, he was under investigation from the Kenosha Police Department. The Kenosha Police Department actually arrested him in February. And during the course of that arrest, they raided his home and found video evidence that — they found video evidence that Mr. Volar was sexually abusing multiple underage Black girls. They didn’t know how old these girls were. In their documents, they said that they believed that some of the girls appeared to be as young as 12. They also found video evidence that he had hundreds, they said, of videos of child pornography.
But on that very same day, they released Randy Volar. And three months passed before they turned that evidence over to the district attorney. And even once the district attorney had that evidence, 12 days passed before Mr. Volar was killed, and they no longer could prosecute the case.
AMY GOODMAN: Jessica Contrera —
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what was the —
AMY GOODMAN: Oh, go ahead, Juan.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: What was the reason for the three-month delay in turning over the evidence to the district attorney?
JESSICA CONTRERA: So, the Kenosha Police Department would not comment for my story. They still have not provided a reason for that. The Kenosha district attorney says that they had assigned a sex crimes prosecutor to the case and were under continued investigation, trying to figure out things like how old the girls were and what charges were available. But we spoke, in the course of our reporting, to other district attorneys, other prosecutors who have experience with sex crimes, who say that this case, with so much video evidence, was something that should have been handled in a much different way.
AMY GOODMAN: You were with Chrystul’s mother when she opened the boxes of evidence that had been gotten under discovery? Is that right, Jessica? Can you describe what she saw? I mean, we’re talking about hundreds of pictures and videotapes — that the police had when they released him.
JESSICA CONTRERA: Yes. So, in the course of our reporting, I of course tried to get access to the investigative file on Mr. Volar, and the police continued to deny that request. But Chrystul had access to that information and — while she was in jail. And because she moved between jail and a prison at the time, the box that the evidence was in was actually mailed to her mother.
And so, I was with her mother when she was seeing for the first time a partial report of the investigation into Mr. Volar. And there were a number of pictures that were screenshots from these videos, including a screenshot of her daughter, that she could see that police had evidence that her daughter was with this man, and that they had this evidence that he was abusing not only her, but multiple girls. It was just devastating to watch. I can’t describe. You know, her mother was, of course, crying and screaming. And her mom was grappling with the fact that if this man had been arrested and if he had been held, her daughter wouldn’t have done what she did, and her daughter wouldn’t be facing life in prison.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And could you talk about the affirmative defense for child sex trafficking victims that Chrystul Kizer’s legal team is attempting to use in this case?
JESSICA CONTRERA: Yes. Thank you so much for asking. That’s a really important part of this case.
So, in many states, there are versions of what’s called the affirmative defense for sex trafficking victims. So, in this case, Chrystul was clearly a sex trafficking victim because she was underage at the time. And so, what the affirmative defense allows someone to do is point to a crime that they committed and say that they committed that crime because they were a sex trafficking victim at the time. Now, this is something that is used frequently across the country for charges related to prostitution or solicitation. It is also sometimes used for things that young women, in most cases, can be forced into, such as robbery or carrying drugs. It has not, anywhere across the country, been used in a case of a homicide. And Chrystul Kizer’s defense team says that in this particular circumstance she should be allowed to use the affirmative defense to explain what happened.
AMY GOODMAN: And Graveley? Can you talk about the DA? Because that goes to this case today, which we’re not asking you to comment on, and Jacob Blake, but he is the DA involved in both cases.
JESSICA CONTRERA: Yes, absolutely. So, Michael Graveley is the district attorney of Kenosha County. And he, in Chrystul’s case, has been at the center of it from the very beginning. He has resisted being swayed by public opinion in any way, and I think he would be the first to tell you that, that even though there are over 100,000 signatures on a petition for Chrystul, even though protesters have come to his office and have come to where he teaches to try to get him to listen, to understand what they see as Chrystul as a victim, he has been very persistent in saying that he will not be swayed by public opinion.
And I think we saw that in his reaction after Jacob Blake. He got up to the microphone and said that a thorough investigation would be conducted, of course, before he came to any decision, and that he would make his decision only on the basis of the results of the investigation.
AMY GOODMAN: Jessica Contrera, we want to thank you for being with us, reporter at The Washington Post. We’re going to link to your piece that you did on Chrystul Kizer’s case. That piece is headlined “He was sexually abusing underage girls. Then, police said, one of them killed him.” This certainly is reminiscent of the Cyntoia Brown case.
This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. When we come back, we go to Louisiana, people in areas devastated by Hurricane Laura. We’re going to go to those in immigration jails. Stay with us.


democracynow--2020-09-01--Meet the New Yes Man on Trump's COVID Task Force: Dr. Scott Atlas Wants U.S. to Adopt Herd Immunity

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States has topped 6 million , with a death toll of over 183,000 .
More than a million people tested positive over the past three weeks in the United States , and over 4,000 Americans died of COVID-19 just during last week ’ s Republican National Convention alone .
That ’ s more than the total number of people killed in the 9/11 attacks .
This comes as the Food and Drug Administration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all patients hospitalized with COVID-19 , despite a lack of published scientific support .
Meanwhile , the FDA has ousted its top spokeswoman and a PR consultant , just days after FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn apologized for overstating the positive results of using blood plasma as a treatment for COVID-19 .
Under enormous pressure from President Trump , who called the FDA part of the “ deep state , ” the FDA recently gave emergency use authorization for the plasma treatment .
The FDA chief is now admitting the agency may also consider @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before Phase 3 trials are complete .
Meanwhile , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has quietly dropped its recommendation that people quarantine for 14 days after traveling from an area with a high rate of infection , even though public health experts say the move will undermine efforts to control the spread of the disease .
The decision was reportedly made by the White House Coronavirus Task Force while top public health expert Dr. Anthony Fauci was undergoing surgery and recovering .
The changes were backed by the task force ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a Fox News contributor and neuroradiologist from Stanford ’ s conservative Hoover Institution with no expertise in epidemiology or infectious disease .
Atlas is the focus of a damning new report by The Washington Post headlined “ New Trump pandemic adviser pushes controversial 'herd immunity ' strategy , worrying public health officials.
” For more , we ’ re joined by one of the lead authors , Yasmeen Abutaleb , national health reporter for The Washington Post .
Also with us , professor Gregg Gonsalves , assistant professor of epidemiology of microbial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Health and co-director of the Global Health Justice Partnership .
We welcome you both to Democracy Now !
Yasmeen , let ’ s begin with you .
Why don ’ t you lay out what you found about the president ’ s new addition to the coronavirus task force , who he recently introduced .
Tell us about Dr. Scott Atlas and what he ’ s pushing .
YASMEEN ABUTALEB : So , the president announced earlier in August that Scott Atlas was joining as a pandemic adviser .
We know that he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The administration brought him on because earlier this summer Trump had encouraged his advisers to look for a doctor or some sort of medical adviser with Ivy League or top university credentials who basically would argue what he wanted to hear about how the pandemic was going , that the threat was receding , that the country should reopen — basically , take the opposite tack of Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci , who are two of the top doctors on the task force and who have said the pandemic is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They ’ ve urged partial lockdowns in areas experiencing surges .
They ’ ve encouraged state mask mandates .
And those aren ’ t things the president really wants to hear .
So , Scott Atlas is more in line with what the president wants to do and wants to hear on the pandemic .
So , he ’ s said things like kids don ’ t get COVID , which there is no evidence for , and that they don ’ t spread it .
He ’ s said that schools @ @ @ @ @ @ @ college sports should resume .
He ’ s also pushing this herd immunity strategy , which basically says that you let the coronavirus spread through most of the population , and you protect the most vulnerable populations , so nursing homes , prisons , you know , tightly congregated places .
That ’ s impractical , because vulnerable people live with healthy people .
And there also — the science on coronavirus is still evolving , so there are plenty of young , healthy people who get coronavirus and die or who develop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health expert we spoke with very much argued against this strategy , saying it was dangerous , and some of the dangers could even be unknown .
AMY GOODMAN : During a COVID-19 news conference on Monday in Tampa Bay , Florida , Dr. Scott Atlas of the White House Coronavirus Task Force was asked about your report that he ’ s pushing the herd immunity strategy .
AMY GOODMAN : Yasmeen Abutaleb , if you could respond ?
That was him speaking on Fox News .
YASMEEN ABUTALEB : Yeah , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ herd immunity strategy there .
He ’ s maybe not saying it explicitly , but he ’ s saying , you know , plenty of people are not vulnerable to this , just protect the most vulnerable — you know , the elderly , people with underlying health conditions .
So , he ’ s not saying it explicitly , but those are the tenets of the strategy , that it ’ s not a big deal if it gets into the general population , and you just sort of want to sequester @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sure they are protected .
He also talks about preventing hospital overcrowding , but that ’ s really difficult to do if you ’ re letting the virus spread unchecked through the population .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Yasmeen Abutaleb , the issue here of herd immunity , I mean , Sweden is the biggest example that is held up in terms of a deliberate policy of a government to develop herd immunity .
But could you talk about your understanding of how harmful it could be in the U.S. , given @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chronic conditions , whether it ’ s asthma , diabetes , obesity and so forth ?
YASMEEN ABUTALEB : Right .
I mean , I think one of the important things is Sweden has about a 10 million-person population , and the U.S. has 330 million people .
The U.S. also has extraordinarily high rates of underlying health conditions that are known risk factors for coronavirus , so , like you laid out , obesity , heart disease , diabetes .
All of these make people much more vulnerable for severe effects of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the disease .
So , you know , this idea that you can separate the vulnerable from the healthy is just impractical .
I mean , someone with diabetes lives in the same household as someone who ’ s otherwise healthy .
Not every vulnerable person lives in a nursing home .
AMY GOODMAN : And , Gregg Gonsalves — oh , go ahead , Juan .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : In terms of the CDC recommendation recently , the change against quarantining for 14 days if you ’ ve come from an area @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 ?
YASMEEN ABUTALEB : Right .
So , the CDC last week changed its testing guidance to say that asymptomatic people who come in contact with a confirmed infection don ’ t necessarily need to get tested .
And we lay out in the article that there — you know , while the White House hasn ’ t formally embraced the strategy , there are policies that start to fall in line with the tenets of a herd immunity strategy .
So , unlike countries that are ramping up testing and contact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time , the U.S. seems to be moving in a direction of testing fewer people .
So , this testing change last week saying you don ’ t need to test — or don ’ t necessarily need to test asymptomatic people who came into contact with a confirmed infection , the CDC estimates that up to 40 % of cases are asymptomatic .
And we know that the surge that we saw this summer in many parts of the country was largely driven by young , healthy people asymptomatically spreading the disease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out that they invoked the Defense Production Act to ramp up tests to nursing homes , but you haven ’ t seen them significantly ramp up testing in other parts of the country , whether for schools , businesses , just the general population .
So you already see this strategy of let ’ s test and aggressively test these vulnerable populations that we know are most at risk , and just sort of not worry as much about the more general population .
And at a roundtable yesterday that Scott Atlas was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people don ’ t need to get tested .
He was still reiterating aspects of this .
AMY GOODMAN : So , I want to go to that response of Scott Atlas , directly responding to your report , Yasmeen .
AMY GOODMAN : So , can you respond , Yasmeen Abutaleb ?
Did you reach out to Scott Atlas ?
YASMEEN ABUTALEB : We did , and we updated the article to include it .
We reached out through the White House three different times to give him a chance to comment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I think it was August 21st , 28th and 29th , both through email and through phone .
So there was plenty of time and plenty of opportunity to comment .
And we know from several sources that he ’ s pushing this strategy .
And if you just look at the public statements , I mean , he advocated a herd immunity strategy in an appearance on Fox that we also quoted in the article .
At that event yesterday in Florida , he was also advocating tenets of a herd immunity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there was plenty of time to comment .
He did comment after the fact .
So , you know , that ’ s just not true that we didn ’ t reach out .
And I think the policies and his public position speak for themselves .
AMY GOODMAN : I want to bring Gregg Gonsalves into this conversation , with the Yale School of Public Health .
Professor Gonsalves , if you can respond to this issue of herd immunity and then go on to all the messages that are being changed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about what Dr. Hahn , the head of the FDA , has just floated , the idea that the vaccine Phase 3 trial will not be done before they move ahead with making it available to the public ?
What ’ s happening here ?
GREGG GONSALVES : So , a couple of things on herd immunity .
I think Yasmeen ’ s article in The Washington Post deserves a Pulitzer .
It was meticulously researched , thoroughly documented .
And any attempt to suggest that it was filled with any kind of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , many people in the public health community have watched this with horror , the sort of implicit herd immunity strategy , downplaying asymptomatic testing , now the withdrawal of the 14-day quarantine period for people moving from one part of the country to the other , which might be a red zone or hot zone , the still sort of inability to get the amount of PPE we need for our healthcare workers , let alone teachers and others who are going to be in high contact , close contact , high-frequency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immunity is the implicit policy of the United States .
And I think they realize it ’ s politically toxic , and so they don ’ t want to use the phrase , but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck , it is a duck .
And this is essentially a herd immunity strategy .
And it ’ s entirely risky for many of the reasons you mentioned .
One is because we have many more people with underlying conditions in the United States .
We also don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or the healthcare infrastructure that many of the Nordic countries have .
So , we won ’ t even be able to deal with the sort of impact of the deaths and suffering we ’ d see by a continuation of the White House ’ s strategy .
What Dr. Hahn has been doing at the FDA , first with the hydroxychloroquine emergency use authorization , now with the convalescent plasma emergency use authorization , is to do the bidding of the White House based on scanty data about treatments for coronavirus .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Phase 3 trial results are out is much more dire , because we give treatments to the sick and , in this case , to many people who are hospitalized .
Vaccines go to millions of people .
We depend on them to be effective , so people don ’ t get the wrong impression about what they should be doing in terms of social distancing and other behavior because they ’ re vaccinated .
And we depend on them to be safe .
A vaccine is going to be an important long-term @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we need a public confidence in vaccines .
Remember , pre-COVID , half of Americans don ’ t get vaccinated against seasonal flu .
We ’ ve had outbreaks of measles and diphtheria and other childhood diseases because we have pockets of people who have skepticism about vaccines .
And Dr. Hahn ’ s sort of willingness to play fast and loose with the data , when vaccine developers , researchers , immunologists , virologists are terrified that they ’ re going to sort of get out ahead of the data , again @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the end of October so he can bring it into the election week with him hoping for victory .
But , you know , this is three strikes for the FDA : hydroxychloroquine , convalescent plasma and a potential vaccine EUA .
Harold Varmus , former NIH director , today , and Rajiv Shah , who ’ s head of the Rockefeller Foundation , have said , “ Stop listening to the CDC , ” because of their asymptomatic testing language , because of the stuff about quarantines .
Now what are we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They ’ re not giving us reliable information about the things we put in our bodies , drugs and vaccines .
It ’ s their basic statutory mandate , and they ’ re failing us right now .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Professor Gonsalves , what about this whole issue that even countries that did practice sharp lockdowns early on in the pandemic , like Spain , are now seeing a second wave of increasing infections ?
Your assessment of what should be the right policy here in the United States ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , nobody said there was never going to be a second wave .
And , in fact , many people , like Marc Lipsitch at Harvard and others , have talked about how this is going to sort of be a rolling pandemic around the world .
Remember , Spain and Italy were later to lock down than some other countries in Europe and had very , very substantial epidemics .
The point is , we need to scale up testing .
And as Yasmeen is saying , asymptomatics are key to that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to diagnose people who are sick in the hospitals , but we need to know where the virus is spreading in communities .
And then we can think about targeted lockdowns .
If we had done this in March and April , so lock down as we were supposed to , provide social and economic support so people could isolate at home without economic fears and without social fears , and scale up testing , contact tracing and isolation , we would be in a situation today where we wouldn ’ t be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ send my kids to school ?
Is there going to be an outbreak there ?
” Or I ’ m sitting at a university campus .
Are we worrying about an outbreak of 100 , 200 , 500 student here on campus ?
We never did the right thing .
We can still turn around , but it really means scaling up testing among asymptomatics ; getting this third relief bill out of Congress , and not a skinny bill , as Mitch McConnell is suggesting , but one that really provides support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economic and social support for individuals to isolate and to social distance if they can ; and a rapid scale-up of testing and PPE , and the things that we ’ ve been talking about left and right .
You know , Scott Gottlieb is no flaming liberal .
He has talked about this explicitly since March .
People like Andy Slavitt , sort of on the liberal side , have done the same .
This is not a bipartisan — this is a bipartisan sort of strategy that ’ s been articulated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the White House keeps turning a blind eye to it , sort of adopting conspiracy theories , finding people who will tell them what they want to hear rather than what really needs to be done .
AMY GOODMAN : Gregg Gonsalves , in one of a long series of tweets Monday , you wrote , “ Dr .
Atlas , a radiologist , has no training or expertise in infectious diseases , but what he does have are the words the President wants to hear : you can let the virus spread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ try to keep the elderly safe , open up everything and let ’ er rip.
” Talk more about who Scott Atlas is , why he ’ s now got the ear of the president , meeting with him almost every day , as Dr. Fauci is recovering from throat surgery , and what this means at a time — especially the asymptomatic issue .
For so long we ’ ve been told people must be tested because asymptomatics can spread COVID-19 .
Kids are now gathering together all over the country to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exactly the point when the testing is becoming more and more difficult to get , and when he is talking about opening things up .
Talk about who he is .
GREGG GONSALVES : So , look , Dr. Atlas has medical training .
He ’ s a neuroradiologist .
There are plenty of people who have general medical expertise who have been fine public health and agency leaders in the United States .
You don ’ t have to be an infectious disease clinician or an infectious disease epidemiologist to do the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when you ’ re getting out ahead of your skis .
And , you know , Dr. Atlas ’ s comments are so far from the mainstream of thinking in public health and clinical medicine on infectious diseases , it ’ s astounding .
You know , he could have engaged experts , tried to figure out what the consensus view was , what we needed to do , and to advise the president in that way .
But what he ’ s done instead is to sort of think about what the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re doing great .
We don ’ t need to do more tests .
We can open up the economy , open up businesses , open up schools , open up universities .
And we can sort of get through the epidemic in that way.
” And so , because of his appearances on Fox News , he caught the president ’ s and the White House ’ s attention , and that ’ s why he ’ s sitting in the place that he is , not because he has any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ edgy .
He ’ s not contrarian .
He ’ s just simply wrong , foolish and dangerous .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : I wanted to ask you if you could put yourself in the shoes of a political leader in the United States or some of these other countries that are dealing with this situation and are finding small but significant portions of their populations actively resisting basic public health suggestions or recommendations by their governments about how to prevent the spread of the disease .
What do you do with these folks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instance , there was a protest outside the German parliament of right-wing folks who are opposed to the lockdown measures in Germany .
Could you talk about what you recommend political leaders do in this situation ?
GREGG GONSALVES : Well , first of all , people like Angela Merkel have been actually pretty good at sort of rallying their country to do the right thing around social distancing , around understanding the risks presented by the pandemic .
And so , her and Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand have been very good @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of united , comprehensive response .
Of course there are always going to be people who don ’ t believe what they ’ re being told by their governments or , for some other reason , don ’ t want to comply with public health recommendations .
Think , again , back to vaccination , about childhood vaccinations and what we see .
And what you have to do is not to shame them and not to go after them in that way .
You need to meet them where they ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s going on .
You need to build incentives into the system that helps them get to a better place than they were yesterday .
And so , yeah , I think there ’ s always going to be a minority of people in any given country who are resisting public health orders , who see public health as sort of an imposition on their sort of liberties .
But even in the United States , remember , we did some great things this spring .
We did beat down the virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we took care of each other .
We all stayed at home .
We all social distanced .
And so , we ’ ve shown alive that generosity and solidarity , that we even saw in this country , even though the president would be loath to admit it .
AMY GOODMAN : We want to thank you so much , Gregg Gonsalves , for joining us , a professor at the Yale School of Public Health , an epidemiologist .
And thank you to Yasmeen Abutaleb , The Washington Post reporter who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the new adviser to President Trump on the coronavirus task force .
This is Democracy Now !
When we come back , President Trump heads to Kenosha , Wisconsin , today , despite fierce opposition from the Wisconsin leadership .
We ’ re going to look at a case that implicates the very local authorities who will be dealing with the Jacob Blake case .
Stay with us .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States has topped 6 million, with a death toll of over 183,000. More than a million people tested positive over the past three weeks in the United States, and over 4,000 Americans died of COVID-19 just during last week’s Republican National Convention alone. That’s more than the total number of people killed in the 9/11 attacks.
This comes as the Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of remdesivir for all patients hospitalized with COVID-19, despite a lack of published scientific support. Meanwhile, the FDA has ousted its top spokeswoman and a PR consultant, just days after FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn apologized for overstating the positive results of using blood plasma as a treatment for COVID-19. Under enormous pressure from President Trump, who called the FDA part of the “deep state,” the FDA recently gave emergency use authorization for the plasma treatment. The FDA chief is now admitting the agency may also consider emergency use approval for a COVID-19 vaccine before Phase 3 trials are complete.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has quietly dropped its recommendation that people quarantine for 14 days after traveling from an area with a high rate of infection, even though public health experts say the move will undermine efforts to control the spread of the disease. The decision was reportedly made by the White House Coronavirus Task Force while top public health expert Dr. Anthony Fauci was undergoing surgery and recovering. The changes were backed by the task force’s newest member, Dr. Scott Atlas, a Fox News contributor and neuroradiologist from Stanford’s conservative Hoover Institution with no expertise in epidemiology or infectious disease. Atlas is the focus of a damning new report by The Washington Post headlined “New Trump pandemic adviser pushes controversial 'herd immunity' strategy, worrying public health officials.”
For more, we’re joined by one of the lead authors, Yasmeen Abutaleb, national health reporter for The Washington Post. Also with us, professor Gregg Gonsalves, assistant professor of epidemiology of microbial diseases at the Yale School of Public Health and co-director of the Global Health Justice Partnership.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Yasmeen, let’s begin with you. Why don’t you lay out what you found about the president’s new addition to the coronavirus task force, who he recently introduced. Tell us about Dr. Scott Atlas and what he’s pushing.
YASMEEN ABUTALEB: So, the president announced earlier in August that Scott Atlas was joining as a pandemic adviser. We know that he meets with the president almost every day. The administration brought him on because earlier this summer Trump had encouraged his advisers to look for a doctor or some sort of medical adviser with Ivy League or top university credentials who basically would argue what he wanted to hear about how the pandemic was going, that the threat was receding, that the country should reopen — basically, take the opposite tack of Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci, who are two of the top doctors on the task force and who have said the pandemic is a threat in every part of the country. They’ve urged partial lockdowns in areas experiencing surges. They’ve encouraged state mask mandates. And those aren’t things the president really wants to hear. So, Scott Atlas is more in line with what the president wants to do and wants to hear on the pandemic. So, he’s said things like kids don’t get COVID, which there is no evidence for, and that they don’t spread it. He’s said that schools should reopen no matter what, that college sports should resume.
He’s also pushing this herd immunity strategy, which basically says that you let the coronavirus spread through most of the population, and you protect the most vulnerable populations, so nursing homes, prisons, you know, tightly congregated places. That’s impractical, because vulnerable people live with healthy people. And there also — the science on coronavirus is still evolving, so there are plenty of young, healthy people who get coronavirus and die or who develop long-term complications. So almost every public health expert we spoke with very much argued against this strategy, saying it was dangerous, and some of the dangers could even be unknown.
AMY GOODMAN: During a COVID-19 news conference on Monday in Tampa Bay, Florida, Dr. Scott Atlas of the White House Coronavirus Task Force was asked about your report that he’s pushing the herd immunity strategy.
DR. SCOTT ATLAS: Twenty-five-plus percent of our young adults, 18 to 25, have contemplated suicide in the past 30 days. This has really got to end. And we know the president here has a strategic and appropriate policy, which is protecting the vulnerable. We know who’s at risk here. It’s not everybody. It’s not about all the cases that’s the most important metric. It’s about saving lives by protecting the vulnerable, by preventing hospital overcrowding — which we are really doing well — and by opening the economy, opening the schools, because American lives are being destroyed.
AMY GOODMAN: Yasmeen Abutaleb, if you could respond? That was him speaking on Fox News.
YASMEEN ABUTALEB: Yeah, I mean, he is essentially advocating a herd immunity strategy there. He’s maybe not saying it explicitly, but he’s saying, you know, plenty of people are not vulnerable to this, just protect the most vulnerable — you know, the elderly, people with underlying health conditions. So, he’s not saying it explicitly, but those are the tenets of the strategy, that it’s not a big deal if it gets into the general population, and you just sort of want to sequester off the most vulnerable people and make sure they are protected. He also talks about preventing hospital overcrowding, but that’s really difficult to do if you’re letting the virus spread unchecked through the population.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Yasmeen Abutaleb, the issue here of herd immunity, I mean, Sweden is the biggest example that is held up in terms of a deliberate policy of a government to develop herd immunity. But could you talk about your understanding of how harmful it could be in the U.S., given the high percentage of Americans who have chronic conditions, whether it’s asthma, diabetes, obesity and so forth?
YASMEEN ABUTALEB: Right. I mean, I think one of the important things is Sweden has about a 10 million-person population, and the U.S. has 330 million people. The U.S. also has extraordinarily high rates of underlying health conditions that are known risk factors for coronavirus, so, like you laid out, obesity, heart disease, diabetes. All of these make people much more vulnerable for severe effects of coronavirus or more susceptible to dying from the disease. So, you know, this idea that you can separate the vulnerable from the healthy is just impractical. I mean, someone with diabetes lives in the same household as someone who’s otherwise healthy. Not every vulnerable person lives in a nursing home.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in terms —
AMY GOODMAN: And, Gregg Gonsalves — oh, go ahead, Juan.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: In terms of the CDC recommendation recently, the change against quarantining for 14 days if you’ve come from an area that has a high incidence rate of COVID-19?
YASMEEN ABUTALEB: Right. So, the CDC last week changed its testing guidance to say that asymptomatic people who come in contact with a confirmed infection don’t necessarily need to get tested. And we lay out in the article that there — you know, while the White House hasn’t formally embraced the strategy, there are policies that start to fall in line with the tenets of a herd immunity strategy.
So, unlike countries that are ramping up testing and contact tracing, and have been for some time, the U.S. seems to be moving in a direction of testing fewer people. So, this testing change last week saying you don’t need to test — or don’t necessarily need to test asymptomatic people who came into contact with a confirmed infection, the CDC estimates that up to 40% of cases are asymptomatic. And we know that the surge that we saw this summer in many parts of the country was largely driven by young, healthy people asymptomatically spreading the disease.
You know, we also laid out that they invoked the Defense Production Act to ramp up tests to nursing homes, but you haven’t seen them significantly ramp up testing in other parts of the country, whether for schools, businesses, just the general population. So you already see this strategy of let’s test and aggressively test these vulnerable populations that we know are most at risk, and just sort of not worry as much about the more general population. And at a roundtable yesterday that Scott Atlas was at, he said young, healthy people don’t need to get tested. He was still reiterating aspects of this.
AMY GOODMAN: So, I want to go to that response of Scott Atlas, directly responding to your report, Yasmeen.
DR. SCOTT ATLAS: I was shocked to see the story, because they never asked me for a comment, first of all. That’s — you know, there’s news, there’s opinion, and then there’s overt lie. And that was never a strategy that was advocated by me and the administration. The president does not have a strategy like that. I’ve never advocated that strategy. So, that whole discussion in The Washington Post was just really sort of irresponsible to write an article like that.
AMY GOODMAN: So, can you respond, Yasmeen Abutaleb? Did you reach out to Scott Atlas?
YASMEEN ABUTALEB: We did, and we updated the article to include it. We reached out through the White House three different times to give him a chance to comment, to ask for an interview. I think it was August 21st, 28th and 29th, both through email and through phone. So there was plenty of time and plenty of opportunity to comment.
And we know from several sources that he’s pushing this strategy. And if you just look at the public statements, I mean, he advocated a herd immunity strategy in an appearance on Fox that we also quoted in the article. At that event yesterday in Florida, he was also advocating tenets of a herd immunity strategy. So, you know, there was plenty of time to comment. He did comment after the fact. So, you know, that’s just not true that we didn’t reach out. And I think the policies and his public position speak for themselves.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to bring Gregg Gonsalves into this conversation, with the Yale School of Public Health. Professor Gonsalves, if you can respond to this issue of herd immunity and then go on to all the messages that are being changed right now, and then particularly talk about what Dr. Hahn, the head of the FDA, has just floated, the idea that the vaccine Phase 3 trial will not be done before they move ahead with making it available to the public? What’s happening here?
GREGG GONSALVES: So, a couple of things on herd immunity. I think Yasmeen’s article in The Washington Post deserves a Pulitzer. It was meticulously researched, thoroughly documented. And any attempt to suggest that it was filled with any kind of falsehood is not true.
I mean, many people in the public health community have watched this with horror, the sort of implicit herd immunity strategy, downplaying asymptomatic testing, now the withdrawal of the 14-day quarantine period for people moving from one part of the country to the other, which might be a red zone or hot zone, the still sort of inability to get the amount of PPE we need for our healthcare workers, let alone teachers and others who are going to be in high contact, close contact, high-frequency interactions with people.
So, herd immunity is the implicit policy of the United States. And I think they realize it’s politically toxic, and so they don’t want to use the phrase, but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. And this is essentially a herd immunity strategy.
And it’s entirely risky for many of the reasons you mentioned. One is because we have many more people with underlying conditions in the United States. We also don’t have the social safety net or the healthcare infrastructure that many of the Nordic countries have. So, we won’t even be able to deal with the sort of impact of the deaths and suffering we’d see by a continuation of the White House’s strategy.
What Dr. Hahn has been doing at the FDA, first with the hydroxychloroquine emergency use authorization, now with the convalescent plasma emergency use authorization, is to do the bidding of the White House based on scanty data about treatments for coronavirus.
The danger about the vaccine EUA before Phase 3 trial results are out is much more dire, because we give treatments to the sick and, in this case, to many people who are hospitalized. Vaccines go to millions of people. We depend on them to be effective, so people don’t get the wrong impression about what they should be doing in terms of social distancing and other behavior because they’re vaccinated. And we depend on them to be safe. A vaccine is going to be an important long-term way to control the virus, and we need a public confidence in vaccines. Remember, pre-COVID, half of Americans don’t get vaccinated against seasonal flu. We’ve had outbreaks of measles and diphtheria and other childhood diseases because we have pockets of people who have skepticism about vaccines. And Dr. Hahn’s sort of willingness to play fast and loose with the data, when vaccine developers, researchers, immunologists, virologists are terrified that they’re going to sort of get out ahead of the data, again, because the president wants something by the end of October so he can bring it into the election week with him hoping for victory.
But, you know, this is three strikes for the FDA: hydroxychloroquine, convalescent plasma and a potential vaccine EUA. Harold Varmus, former NIH director, today, and Rajiv Shah, who’s head of the Rockefeller Foundation, have said, “Stop listening to the CDC,” because of their asymptomatic testing language, because of the stuff about quarantines. Now what are we going to do about the FDA? They’re not giving us reliable information about the things we put in our bodies, drugs and vaccines. It’s their basic statutory mandate, and they’re failing us right now.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Professor Gonsalves, what about this whole issue that even countries that did practice sharp lockdowns early on in the pandemic, like Spain, are now seeing a second wave of increasing infections? Your assessment of what should be the right policy here in the United States?
GREGG GONSALVES: So, one is, nobody said there was never going to be a second wave. And, in fact, many people, like Marc Lipsitch at Harvard and others, have talked about how this is going to sort of be a rolling pandemic around the world. Remember, Spain and Italy were later to lock down than some other countries in Europe and had very, very substantial epidemics.
The point is, we need to scale up testing. And as Yasmeen is saying, asymptomatics are key to that. Of course we’re going to diagnose people who are sick in the hospitals, but we need to know where the virus is spreading in communities. And then we can think about targeted lockdowns.
If we had done this in March and April, so lock down as we were supposed to, provide social and economic support so people could isolate at home without economic fears and without social fears, and scale up testing, contact tracing and isolation, we would be in a situation today where we wouldn’t be saying, “God, should I send my kids to school? Is there going to be an outbreak there?” Or I’m sitting at a university campus. Are we worrying about an outbreak of 100, 200, 500 student here on campus?
We never did the right thing. We can still turn around, but it really means scaling up testing among asymptomatics; getting this third relief bill out of Congress, and not a skinny bill, as Mitch McConnell is suggesting, but one that really provides support for the local and state governments, economic and social support for individuals to isolate and to social distance if they can; and a rapid scale-up of testing and PPE, and the things that we’ve been talking about left and right. You know, Scott Gottlieb is no flaming liberal. He has talked about this explicitly since March. People like Andy Slavitt, sort of on the liberal side, have done the same. This is not a bipartisan — this is a bipartisan sort of strategy that’s been articulated really since March and April. And the White House keeps turning a blind eye to it, sort of adopting conspiracy theories, finding people who will tell them what they want to hear rather than what really needs to be done.
AMY GOODMAN: Gregg Gonsalves, in one of a long series of tweets Monday, you wrote, “Dr. Atlas, a radiologist, has no training or expertise in infectious diseases, but what he does have are the words the President wants to hear: you can let the virus spread widely throughout the US if you just try to keep the elderly safe, open up everything and let ’er rip.” Talk more about who Scott Atlas is, why he’s now got the ear of the president, meeting with him almost every day, as Dr. Fauci is recovering from throat surgery, and what this means at a time — especially the asymptomatic issue. For so long we’ve been told people must be tested because asymptomatics can spread COVID-19. Kids are now gathering together all over the country to go to school. And this is exactly the point when the testing is becoming more and more difficult to get, and when he is talking about opening things up. Talk about who he is.
GREGG GONSALVES: So, look, Dr. Atlas has medical training. He’s a neuroradiologist. There are plenty of people who have general medical expertise who have been fine public health and agency leaders in the United States. You don’t have to be an infectious disease clinician or an infectious disease epidemiologist to do the right thing, but you should know when you’re getting out ahead of your skis.
And, you know, Dr. Atlas’s comments are so far from the mainstream of thinking in public health and clinical medicine on infectious diseases, it’s astounding. You know, he could have engaged experts, tried to figure out what the consensus view was, what we needed to do, and to advise the president in that way. But what he’s done instead is to sort of think about what the president wants to hear: “We’re doing great. We don’t need to do more tests. We can open up the economy, open up businesses, open up schools, open up universities. And we can sort of get through the epidemic in that way.”
And so, because of his appearances on Fox News, he caught the president’s and the White House’s attention, and that’s why he’s sitting in the place that he is, not because he has any specific expertise. He’s not edgy. He’s not contrarian. He’s just simply wrong, foolish and dangerous.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I wanted to ask you if you could put yourself in the shoes of a political leader in the United States or some of these other countries that are dealing with this situation and are finding small but significant portions of their populations actively resisting basic public health suggestions or recommendations by their governments about how to prevent the spread of the disease. What do you do with these folks that are — in Germany, for instance, there was a protest outside the German parliament of right-wing folks who are opposed to the lockdown measures in Germany. Could you talk about what you recommend political leaders do in this situation?
GREGG GONSALVES: Well, first of all, people like Angela Merkel have been actually pretty good at sort of rallying their country to do the right thing around social distancing, around understanding the risks presented by the pandemic. And so, her and Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand have been very good about rallying their countries around a sort of united, comprehensive response.
Of course there are always going to be people who don’t believe what they’re being told by their governments or, for some other reason, don’t want to comply with public health recommendations. Think, again, back to vaccination, about childhood vaccinations and what we see. And what you have to do is not to shame them and not to go after them in that way. You need to meet them where they’re at, try to figure out what’s going on. You need to build incentives into the system that helps them get to a better place than they were yesterday.
And so, yeah, I think there’s always going to be a minority of people in any given country who are resisting public health orders, who see public health as sort of an imposition on their sort of liberties. But even in the United States, remember, we did some great things this spring. We did beat down the virus in many places in this country because we took care of each other. We all stayed at home. We all social distanced. And so, we’ve shown alive that generosity and solidarity, that we even saw in this country, even though the president would be loath to admit it.
AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you so much, Gregg Gonsalves, for joining us, a professor at the Yale School of Public Health, an epidemiologist. And thank you to Yasmeen Abutaleb, The Washington Post reporter who broke the story on Dr. Scott Atlas, the new adviser to President Trump on the coronavirus task force.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, President Trump heads to Kenosha, Wisconsin, today, despite fierce opposition from the Wisconsin leadership. We’re going to look at a case that implicates the very local authorities who will be dealing with the Jacob Blake case. Stay with us.


democracynow--2020-09-01--Headlines for September  1, 2020

Headlines for September  1, 2020

President Trump is headed to Kenosha , Wisconsin , today despite fierce opposition to his visit , including by Wisconsin ’ s governor , lieutenant governor and Kenosha ’ s mayor , and as protests over police violence and white supremacy continue .
Trump has refused to condemn either the police shooting of Jacob Blake or the white 17-year-old militia member who last week killed two protesters .
He instead defended the teen , Kyle Rittenhouse , who has been charged with first-degree homicide .
President Donald Trump : “ He was trying to get away from them , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he fell , and then they very violently attacked him .
And it was something that we ’ re looking at right now , and it ’ s under investigation .
But I guess he was in very big trouble .
He would have been — he probably would have been killed.
” The video , in fact , appears to show a group attempting to disarm Rittenhouse after he had already lethally shot the first protester .
In a Fox News interview Monday , Trump again defended police officers who kill .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ him as he compares officers who kill to golfers .
Rusten Sheskey , a white police officer , shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back at point-blank range as he was walking away from him .
Trump is not planning to meet with Jacob Blake ’ s family in Kenosha .
He has not spoken to them on the phone , after refusing to do so with their legal counsel present .
Blake ’ s father , Jacob Blake Sr. , said he is not interested in “ playing politics ” with @ @ @ @ @ @

President Trump is headed to Kenosha, Wisconsin, today despite fierce opposition to his visit, including by Wisconsin’s governor, lieutenant governor and Kenosha’s mayor, and as protests over police violence and white supremacy continue. Trump has refused to condemn either the police shooting of Jacob Blake or the white 17-year-old militia member who last week killed two protesters. He instead defended the teen, Kyle Rittenhouse, who has been charged with first-degree homicide.
President Donald Trump: “He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like. And he fell, and then they very violently attacked him. And it was something that we’re looking at right now, and it’s under investigation. But I guess he was in very big trouble. He would have been — he probably would have been killed.”
The video, in fact, appears to show a group attempting to disarm Rittenhouse after he had already lethally shot the first protester. In a Fox News interview Monday, Trump again defended police officers who kill.
President Donald Trump: “They choke, just like in a golf tournament. They miss a three-foot putt.”
Laura Ingraham: “You’re not comparing it to golf, because, of course, that’s what the media will say.”
President Donald Trump: “No, I’m saying people choke.”
Even Fox News host Laura Ingraham interrupts him as he compares officers who kill to golfers. Rusten Sheskey, a white police officer, shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back at point-blank range as he was walking away from him. Trump is not planning to meet with Jacob Blake’s family in Kenosha. He has not spoken to them on the phone, after refusing to do so with their legal counsel present. Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., said he is not interested in “playing politics” with his son’s life.