10/31/19 10/31/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! when ours a sad day founders drafted the constitution more than 230 years ago, they included a process that could lead to removing a president from office if he or she abused their power. that is what separates a america from so many other nations. there are no kings or queens here and no one is above the law.

amy: the houses voting today to formalize the impeachment process that marks the first vote by the full house related to the impeachment inquiry president trump. we will get the latest. first, we look at the climate crisis as chile cancels the upcoming u.n. climate summit due to mass protests. been a difficult decision, dedecision that causes us much pain because we understand the importance of -- for chile in the world. amy: 300 million people are at risk from rising sea levels, three times more than previous estimates. plus, we go to california where extreme winds up to 60 miles per hour caused new fires to erect across southern california. we will speak with congress member ro khanna about the growing calls to make pacific gas & electric a public utility. we will also speak to a woman who risked her life while fighting fires as a prisoner in california. about $.53 an hour.

my total check per month was about somewhere around $64 i believe. and i was one of the highest paid at the fire department. so the other women i worked side-by-side with were making about $.38 an hour. amy: plus we speak to a reporter at thehe los angeles t times abt her story, "housekeepers and gardeners go to work despite the flames." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in california, extreme winds of up to 60 miles per hour caused new fires to erupt across the southern part of the state wednesday. in ventura county north of los angeles, the so-called easy fire came nearly to the doorstep of the ronald reagan presidential library as hundreds of firefighters worked to control the blazes. this is simi valley resident david pollack, one of 30,000 residents of the region forced to evacuate the climate change-fueled fires.

>> as we get up, get out of here, get the car moving, everything else can be replaced. breathing at the end of the day is better than not breathing at the end of the day. amy: chile's president sebastian pinera announced wednesday his nation will not be hosting the u.n. climate summit in santiago in december as planned. he also canceled the scheduled asia-pacific economic cooperation conference, as mass protests against inequality in chile entered their third week. his announcement came as a shocking new report warned 300 million people are at risk from rising sea levels, three times more than previous estimates. we'll have more on the fires in california and the climate crcrisis after headlinines. in los angeles, protesters interrupted jpmorgan chase ceo jamie dimon wednesday as he appeared at a forum on the campus of ucla, chanting "jamie dimon, the world's on fire," and unfurling banners calling on the

bank to end its investments in coal, oil, and gas. the rainforest action network reports jpmorgan chase invested nearly $200 billion in fossil fuel projects after the paris climate agreement was reacacd in late 2015. on capitol hill, 50 youthh climate activists with the sunrise movement occupied the offices of california senator diane feinstein and house speaker nancy pelosi on wednesday, demanding meaningful action on climate change. organizer claire tacherra-morrison said in a statement -- "democratic leadership is failing to treat this like the emergency that it is. business-as-usual is killing us." in north dakota, breach in the keystone pipeline wednesday flooded a rural wetland with crude oil from canada's tar sands. walsh county emergency management distributed photos of the massive spill, which it said was over a quarter-mile long and 15 feet wide. the agency said the pipeline's

operator tc energy -- formerly known as transcanada -- had yet to fix the leak by late wednesday and that an unknown quantity of f oil had leaked. the e house of repreresentatives voting today to formalize the impeachment process, marking the first vote by the full house related to the impeachment inquiry of president trump. this comes as the top russian official on the national security council, tim morrison, is schedululed to testify y on capitol hill today. on wednesday, it was reported morrison will soon step down from his post. meanwhile, house democrats have asked trump's former national security adviser john bolton to testify, but his attorney said he would not appear unless he is subpoenaed. later in the broadcast, we'll go to washington, d.c., to speak with california cocongressmember ro khanna. on capitol hill, democrats on the house oversight committee grilled senior immigration official ken cuccinelli wednesday over his agency's moves to deport immigrants

receiving life-saving medical treatment, including children and babibies. in september, following public outcry, u.s. citizenship and immigration services reversed its decision to end deferred deportations for immigrants with serious medical conditions. at wednesday's hearing, missouri democratic congressmember william clay pressed cuccinellii -- the acting director of uscis -- over the cases of parents of critically ill newborn babies who were told they had 33 days to leave the country or face deportation.n. >> you want them to leave the country? pack up their stuff, take the sick child and go? >> either that, or make their case in the immigration process where it is appropriate to do so. >> all in the middle of them being there hoping and praying that they saved their child's life? >> which is whwhdeferred action c continues --

>> how cruel. how cruel. really? really? i don't believe this. i yelled back. -- i yelled back. amy: president trump's nominee to fill an open seat on the 9th u.s. circuit court of appeals broke down i in tears wednesday, as lawmakekers questiod d him about ththe american bar association's finding that he is not qualified d to become a federal judge. in a scathing g letter to leades of the senate judiciary committee, the aba determined then diked to be "arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-to-day practice including procedural rules." it went on to say he "lacks humility, has an 'entitlemement' temperament, does not have an open mind, and does not always have a commitment to being candid and truthful." the report also said vandyke would not promise to be fair to members of the lgbtq comommunit. on wednesday, vandyke broke down in tears when asasked about the findinings at a senate confirmation hearing. >> no, i did not say that.

i did d not believe that. belief offundamental mind that all people are crcread in the image of god. they should all be treated w wih dignity and respect. amamy: vandyke has previviously tataken hard-line positions against gun control, marriage equality, and abortion. indian prime minister narendra modi tightened his control over kashmir wednesday, as his government announced plans to split the state of jammu and kashmir into two federal territories, controlled directly by new delhi. over the summer, massive protests erupted after modi revoked the special ststatus of the indianan-contrtrolled part f the muslim-majority region. human rights groups say modi's government then carried out widespread torture, extrajudicial killings, arbibitrary arrests and other crimes in kashmir. meanwhile, kashmiri militants shot dead five construction workers from eastern india on wednesday. ththe latest violence came as a group of e european unionn lawmakakers from far-right parts tourured kashmir in a move decrd

by human rights groups as a pr stunt. the 27 parliamentarians from countries including france, germany, italy, poland, spain and the u.k. met with modi for a photo-op on monday. the pentagon has released video of the u.s. military assault on a compound in syria that i it ss killed isis leader a abu bak al-baghdadi and two o of h chdren o osaturday. when he blew up his suicide vest and a tunnel. the head of u.s. central command general frank mckenz s said wednesday y thatl-baghghda's remamains we burieieat seaea and ththat the u.s. . was onlert for retributioion attacks. the video does not c contain any audio of t the assault, casting further doubt on president trump's lurid account made to a national audience on sunday morning that baghdadi died "whimpering, crying and screaming." in the philippines, a powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake rattled the southern island of mindanao thursday morning -- two days after a similarly-sized quake killed eight people, flattened buildings, and left more t than 12,000 people homeless.

brazilian president jair bolsonaro lashed out wednesday at brazil's largest media company, globo, after it broadcast a report alleging a link between bolsonaro and two men accused of murdering rio de janeiro city councilwoman marielle franco in march of last year. globo quoted a doorman who said one of the murder suspects, alleged getaway driver elcio de queiroz, arrived at bolsonaro's gated community on the night of the murder and was granted access after calling bolsonaro's residence. he then drove to the home to the second suspect. i'd --ro has died and denied knowing the suspects, even though he appears in a photograph circulated on social media with de queiroz and one of his sons once dated ronnie lessa's daughter. bolsonaro recorded an angry 23-minute diatribe posted online at 4:00 a.m. from a hotel room in saudi arabia. >> but now you try to link me to the murder of marielle.

you jerks. you scandals. i don't owe anyone anything. i had no reason to kill anyone in rio de janeiro. i knew about the councilwoman. i found out about her on the day she was murdered, which by coincidence was march 14. fofor the lolove of god, where e your heaeads? you have no common sense, tv globo. amy: in a statement the committee to protect journalists responded -- "president bolsonaro's threats and insults against brazil's largest news broadcaster have no place in a democracy." bolsonaro's tirade came ahead of a fiery address toto the saudi investment forum in riyadh known as "davos in the desert." in the speech, president bolsonaro praised saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman and donald trump, while blasting french p psident emamanuel macr, who crititicizeded bolsonaro's support for the illegal ranchers and miners behind many of the fires sweeping the amazon.

colombia's government says it's deploying the military to the south-western province of cauca after five indigenous people were murdered on their reservation. six others were wounded in tuesday's attack after heavily armed assailants opened fire with guns and grenades on a convoy of people responsible for security in the semi-autonomous nasa tacueyo indigenous reserve. among the dead was community leader cristina bautista. colombian president ivan duque traveled to the region on wednesday, blaming dissidents in the farc rebel group who oppose a peace deal. but police have made no arrests and no suspects have been named in the murders. twitter says it will stop accepting all political advertisements worldwide beginning in november. ceo jack dorsey announced the change in a seriries of tweets wednesday, w writing -- "w"while internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions."

twitter's move comes a as facebk ceo markrk zuckerberg is under fire for accepting political advertisements, even when politicians like president trump make demonstrably false or misleading claims. a forensic pathologist hired by the brother of jeffrey epstein says the injuries that killed the multimillionaire sex abuser were consistent with strangulation, not a death by suicide, as a new york medical examiner reported. dr. michael baden says a broken bone in epstein's neck is "extremely unusualal in susuicil hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicididal strangulation." epststein was found dead in his manhattan jail cell in august, as he awaited trial on federal sex trafficking charges. jeffrey epstein once counted president trump and former president bill clinton among his high-profile friends. in britain, labour party leader jeremy corbyn has formally announced he will challenge prime minister boris johnson in

an election scheduled for december 12. >> today we launch the most ambitious and radical campaign our country has ever seen, to bring real change to all parts of this country. if you want to live in a society that works for everybody, not just the billionaires, if you want to save our hospitals, schools, and public services from tory cuts and privatization, if you want to stop the big polluters destroying our environments, then this election is your chance to vote for it. amy: and the chicago teachers union reached a tentative contract agreement wednesday with the city's public school system wednesday, but returned to picket lines today after mayor lori lightfoot refused their request to add extra school days to this year's calendar to o make up for class time lost to the strike. the tentative deal would bring chicago teachers a 1 16% pay rae over five yearars and would add $35 millioion to efforts to rede

class s sizes. in relatated news, seieiu local, the ununion represenenting chico school support staff, approved their new contract with 97% of the workers voting "yes" and a strong vow to stay in solidarity with the chicago teachers union. their deal follows a seven-day strike. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. as wildfires continue to rage in california and a shocking new report finds that many coastal cities will be flooded by rising sea levels, chile's president sebastian hinn era has canceled the upcoming u.n. clement summit that was scheduled for december and sent to iago, which has seen weeks of mass protests against the chilean government's neoliberal policies. an u.n. is now looking for

alternative venue. the annual climate meetings offer a critical space for developing countries to request greater help from rich nations as a confront the worst effects of the climate crisis. pinera's announcement comes as a dire new report says 300 million people are at risk of being displaced due to rising sea levels. three times more than previous estimates. according to the study published in nature communication, the vast majority of the most vulnerable populations are concentrated in asia with china, bangngladesh, india,a, vietnam, indonesia, and thahailand facing the gravest threats. amy: study f finds global sea levels are expected to rise between two to seven feet and possibly more with some coastal cities being wiped off the map. to talk more about the implications of the latest report on the we are joined now by two guests. us, ceo strauss is with and chief scieientist at climate

central, ando-o-author o of a nw study on rising sea levelsls. and harjeet sisingh is the globl lead on climate change at actionaid. joining us from new delhi. benjamin strauss, explain the scope of the report and what you found. >> thank you so much for having me to discuss such an important issue. exposure tot global sea level rise and coastal flooding in the coming several decades is more than three times what we thought based on previous data. ofentially, almost all climate science has been focused on the question of what the sea level will be in the future, which makes sense. that is what is changing. sea level is rising. but you really need to know two things to understand the human vulnerability of sea level rise, and one is the height of the sea

but the other is the height of the land. we all assumed that we knew that, that it was fixed and simple. but in my research with my colleague, we took a closer look at the data being used to estimate land elevations globally. and while there is very accurate data in the united states and australia and parts of western europe, the data set used for global analysis and most of asia and the rest of the world overestimated coastal elevations by more than six feet or two meters. nermeen: why was there such a huge overestimation? >> the data -- the elevation was based on measurements taken from satellites. the beams that came down were very broad in their footprint. so it averaged in rooftops, buildings, treetops with the ground in determining the actual -- in determining the elevation

in the data set. amy: let's look at a map depicting southern vietnam could 2050 indisappear by shanghai, one of asia's most important economic engines. water threatens to consume the city and many cities around it? >> yes. we made an interactive map together with report so that any of your listeners can look at any part of the world if they go to coastal. climatecentral.org. we found huge changes in the major deltas of asia compared to what we had previously thought. noting that weo discovered more than 100 million land thatay live on is below the high tide line. and there is a little piece of hope in that, which is that means most of them are likely to be protected by coastal defenses

to some degree. but on the other hand, it also means many people -- we may not hear about it in the headlines. any people may already be suffering from frequent flooding in addition affecting their lives and livelihoods. amy: and the new findings based on an innovative way to read satellites? >> yes. we used artificial intelligence to try and improve on this data from satellites. we took that satellite-based data set, but another 23 variables. we fed it into an algorithm soup, so to speak, in order to try and find an approach to improve those data. we used about 50 million data points where we had a very accurate elevation reading, as well as the inaccurate satellite reading to develop and calibrate the model.

and then we used a completely different set of points in other areas to show the model worked, even outside of the areas where we trained it. so that is how we have confidence in these results. nermeen: i would like to bring harjeet singh into the conversation will stop harjeet singh is with actionaid and is joining us from new delhi, india. could you resespond to the findingsgs of this reportt, in particular, the fact t the vast majority of f the most vulnerare to sea--- areas vulnerable level rise are in asia? >>hank you f for havining me he. while i i saddened, but not susurprid. we've seen the grimim reality ad parts of the global south. so developg g countries who hahe little - -- are facing this climate emergency. to put it into context, 60 million people were displacededn 2018 by disasters.

now thee estimates are coming fr sea level rise. india, it is seven times more than number. anglo --, a titimes more than te previous estimate. people are being forced to leave their homes as their local coping mechanisms fail. the harms and -- their farms and homes are being swallowed up. i met people who would point ward the sea several meters from where their homes used to be and are now in the water. that is the grim reality they are facing. ththey leave theirir families bd , women,n, children, elderly, ,d that -- you are seeing in this part of the world how the families are getting disintegrated completely and have no place to go. and where they willll end u up n other a areas and small towns ad cities, they end up living in an human and u unhygienic conditio. becomomes numbers, it

absolutely horrific. nermeen: can you talk about what kind of support, if any, these climate migrants receive to help them resettltle whereverhehey ae able to go? >> the realility is deveveloping coununtries are alsoso not read. we are now facing g the climimae emergency, or w what wealall los and damage, they have not even been ready with their adapaptatn planans. the whole concept of adaptation, which means preparing for these impacts,s, became much m more ae in 2001. and since thenen, they have not got any support from developed countries, which is adequate for them to put these defenses that we're talking about. whether r it is about coaststal protection, whether itit is abot homes, or thinking of my locations -- which is been talkeded about n now at the u.n. level, but hardly any support has reached these communities.

we are talking about millions of people in this part of the world. talkharjeet singh, can you about the latest news that just broke yesterday as more than a million people were in the streets of chile this past weekend. the embattled president pinerera announunced the u.n. climate summit wouldld be canceled in dececember. it wasas going to be held in santiago. now the e u.n. has to decide whether they have to put out this climate summit t or find dn alternatative venue. but ththe signifanance of ththe cancellationont ththis point? let''s understand, t the climae crisis and the social unrest in chile or elsewhere have the same rootot cause. at is ineqequality. governments contin t to privatize corporations ovover te rights of pelele. and that is why thisis uprisings what w we' seeeein in chchile. cup 25 beennference,

canceled, it means -- it is a major jolt to the issue we were supposed to be talking there. loss and damage, challenges that climate migrants are facing, was very much on the agenda. anand it was all about how the institutioion that has been created in 2013 needs to be rebooted t to the cucurrent rery and the fututure. if i c connect with atat is happening in chile, what the c p was going to be discussing, and this to report, it is really a terriblele situation that t we l now w see the cop moving to some other c cy and probably for 2020. our hearts are with people with chilile. their fight t their fighting g s absolulutely real. the climate justice e fight in e sosoal unrnrest are alall conned to the core becacause of eqequality, and d we neeeed to reboot what is behind these challenges. talk aboutn you

inequality also in the context of climate change, that countries that have historically emititted the l least are now te most vulnenerable?e? >> absolutely. if you look att historirical emissions,s, the c climate crise arare facing today is nonot a rt of a missions happening now. the missions that haveakaken place in thehe last 150 years ae causing the climate crcrisis t t wewe face todaday. if you look at these historical resolutions, the united statates is responsiblele for t than onee quarter and another order comes from the eururopean ununion. that is the inequality. yes, chihina is the biggest polluter at the momentnt but historical emissions come largely from the uniteted states and ththe europeaean union. if you look at the emissision reduction targetet they have put on the t table from the uninited states, the e european union, en japapan, it is 1/5 of their fair

sharare. civil societororganizatitions ve come up with a calcular that looks at historical respononbility, ththe p, and the and have found it i is only 1. deveping countries have put their planan, which is farar moe ambititious, andosost of theheme belowe with k keeping it to two degrees celsius. the inequality, which has caused a problem, also exists when it comes to climate action. the business as usual approach we see from the majority of developed countries is not going to help. to the to be responding grave situation we are facing at this moment. amy: i want to ask about indonesia announcing plans to relocate its capital, the capital city of jakarta. it is going to relocate to the island of borneo. jakarta, which is home to over 30 million people, has been steadily sinking into the java sea and a study found that over

a quarter of jakarta will be underwater in the next 10 years. excessive extraction of groundwater and poorly managed environmental policies have led to jakarta's surface water becoming polluted and unfit for consumption. rising sea levels from climate change further compound the issue. this is the indonesian president joko widododo announcing the plans. >> the place has a minimum risk of natural disasters, such as tsunami,arthquakes, forest fires, volcanoes, and landslides. secondly, the location is strategic, as it is located in the center of indonesia. thirdly, it is close to the other developed cities. amy: it's not clear what will happen to the millions of jakarta residents at risk of losing their homes and livelihoods as jakarta is submerged in coming years. i wawant to ask each o of you ts question, starting with harjeet singh. to theeththing poinints

unsusustainanable development ml that we ve creatated thatt continues s to exploit natature. whetether it i is about extrtran of w water at t unsustainable ls and man-made crisis s or climate change that we have caused. i i think wewe need to look at w we look at ---- how we treat development. whatat is our definition of dedevelopment? whwho is causing that destructi? some of these fundamental questions we n need toto ask our toward gdp g growth and cocomply ignonoring what t we're doing to environment has to change. environmnment now has t to be ah centerer of f everything that te ing, how w we'rere using our natural resoururces, how w we ae buildiding our h hes, how we are using water -- - all of that has to change. and d that thihinking -- despspe some of these challenges we are seeing and looking at the kind of a actions we are nonow forceo tatake. but our political leaders are stilll stuckck with the thinking

that corporations are going to solve the problems, and we are sing privavatization and not real rebooting thehe development modedethat we hahave created, whicich is responsible for all f ththe crisis we are facing in ts world today. amy: been strauss? >> i think we have to look at jakarta and really use it to understand we could all be jakarta tomorrow. unfortunately, it is a model for what could happen to many other coastal cities. where we could look at new orleans, which has more resources and has built a levy system to protect itself but when a hurricane comes, we saw the tragedy that can take place when you live in the bottom of the bowl and the defenses fail. important is a really lesson that we have to take great heed of. a major nation would go to the lengths of relocating their largest city and the capital

city, or t trying to do that. cityen: for we conclude, a like bombay, population of almost 20 million, and the greater bombay area, large parts of which will be underwater according to this report by 2050, that area includes weree two nuclear installations are housed. >> oh, there's a tremendous amount of infrastructure right by the coast everywhere including nuclear facilities, hazardous waste sites of every kind. rises to submerge those areas, all kinds of nuclear waste or toxins and other noxious material can be spread around. cleanup orenormous defense effort in front of us. probleman entirely new in the course of human civilization. we really don't have the

institutions where the precedent to deal with the loss of land. i hope that with adequate warning, decades of warning, we have some chance of finding and investing resources to defend the places that we are able. but there is a great inequity of resources around the world. it is going to be very expensive. and some places, just by their geography, may be prohibited to defense. yes, this really is a new chapter. if i can find any self -- silver lining in this, it is hardly one, but i will say that just as the threat from sea level rise and coastal flooding turns out to be much greater than we thought it was. amy: three times greater. 300 million -- >> three times greater. the benefits of cutting climate collusion would also be three times greater. think of the benefit cost

equation that moves some audiences. it suddenly changed. but on the other hand, harjeet singh made an important point, there is a lag the system. if i put a chunk of ice on the table right now, it is simple and profound. it would not melt instantly. it would take time. so in the same way, the ice sheets on antarctica and greenland have just barely begun to respond to the warming that we have already caused. amy: we want to thank you so much for being with us, , benjan strauss, chief scientist at the nenews a s sides organization climatate central. and d harjeet ngngh,, global led on climate change at actionaid. when we come back, we continue on the climate crisis by looking at the fires still raging in california. the congressmember we will speak

to is calling for pg&e to become a public utility. then we will speak with a woman who is a former pririsoner who fight fires while incarcerated. we will also talk about the housekeepers and the workers who are going to the states burning -- he states burning where the owners have evacuated, but the people are not told. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amamy goodman with n nermeen shaikh. nermeen: extreme winds of up to 60 miles per hour caused new fires to erupt across southern california wednesday, prompting tens of thousands to evacuate. the blazes are just the latest in a spate of climate change-fueled fires threatening the state. in ventura county north of los angeles, the so-called easy fire came neaearly to the doorstep of the ronald reagan presidential library as hundreds of firefighters worked to control the blazes.

this is a homeowner in the area. >> i have lived here in southern california allll m my life, ande bos encountered the santa ana winds and the fires. but not to this extent. in the last five years, it has been a little bit different and it is a game changer. it is the new normal. nermeen: news of the latest evacuations came after the national weather service in los angeles issued an "extreme red flag warning" for southern california for the first time in its history. fires in california are typical this time of year, but the length and severity of the state's fire seasoson has grown due to clilimate change.e. evacuations have been lifted for the e getty fire, whwhich eruptn one of los angeles's most opulent neighbororhoods monday.. amy: in northern california, firefighters have finally beat back the sonoma county kincade fire that had forced nearly 200,000 people to flee their homes over the weekend. firefighters reaching 45%

containment of what had been the most threatening fire in the state. nearly all evacuees in the region have now been allowed to return to their homes. this comes as the public utility giant pacific gas & electric said wednesday it would begin restoring power to the 365,000 customers who were plunged into darkness over the weekend as fires first erupted across the state. pg&e, the corporation that controls most of northern and central california's electricity and the biggest utility in america, has b been implicated n many of the fires that have ravaged california in recent years, including the camp fire that killed 85 people and compmpletely destrtroyed the tof paradise in 201818. in january, pg&e declared bankruptcy, facingng a number of lawsuits related to the wildfires. but it still controls much of california's power grid. for more, we go to a lawmaker who isis calling for the california state government to

take over control of pg&e and make it a public utility. congressmember ro khananna joins us now from washington, d.c. later in the broadcast, we're going to talk about this epic day around this issue of impeachment. it right now we're focusing on what is happening in california, which is also, to say the least, epic and this emerged -- state of emergency. explain for people around the world who don't understand how pg&e operates, what it is now and what you are calling for. >> first of all, it has been a disaster in the baydisaster in i live. people's homes are e being dedestroyeyed by fire. many thousands of people are without basic electricity. pg&e is s basically a private monopoly that getsts a return on investment for their private investors, but has no competition. it is the worst of both worlds. it is a monopoly, a private

monopoly, and yet it has exclusive jurisdictition over a particular zone so it t does not have the competition that free markets usually have. and this h has resulted d in pge mamaking systemamatic underirinvestment. they have not secured the power lines. they have not engaged in the brusush clearing that t was necessary to make sure that these fires did not escalate. they have no provision for backup power, even though this was completely foreseeable. at the same time, they are paying their ceo $9.8 million, and the investors are making money in this mismanagement t hs led to bankruptcy. what i have said is in a case where you have a private monopoly without competition, that is the case of public ownership where you're not having a profit motive and extractive capitalism. the state should take over pg&e. different municipalities should forthe power distribution

their cities, and then the station provided to rural areas where the cities can't do the job. nermeen: representative ro, how popular is it in the u.s. that casella tri-city are provided by -- gas and electricity are provided by private corporations? i was confused this pg&e is called a public utility, but in fact it is pririvate. publics technically a investor utility. in other words, there is pubublc regulatory oversight over it. the california public utilities commission. but it is private investment and has a private board of directors and they d determined the executive compensation stuff in the public regulators don't have much ability to move pg&e. at the same time, pg&e is pouring millions of dollars into the governor's campaign, in a state legislators campaign. so the process has been co-opted by the special interest. unfortunately, most of the coununtry, many state, have pubc

investment utililities. this is why bernie sanders and his green new deal plan have said we need to move to publicly owned utilities. and we know and publicly owned utilities, particularly municipalities, are much better with lower cost for residents, energy tends to be much more renewable, safety standard tends to be much higher, and you take the profit motive o of extractie capitalism out of it. amy: so what would need to happen for it to become an actual publicly owned utility controlled by the state of california? and can you explain, for example, how that might have changed the outcome of what happened in paparadise, califora , which burned to the ground, kikilling 85 people last year? >> absolutely. had pg&e been a publicly owned utility instead of payaying $9.8 mimillion to the ceo -- because there is no way california

voters or taxpayers would have allowed that -- pg&e would have been required to make the investments in the safety of the power lines. they would have been forced to make the investment in clearing out the brush were trees where they were in dangerous positions. i had someone in my district who said pg&e had come two months ago saying nine trees need to be removed because they were a fire hazard and no one has followed up. so there would be far more public accountability. there also would be a much larger source of renewable energy. silicon valley power in my district is a publicly owned power. have almost 40% of their energy being renewable. they have lower rates and they are much safer. how do we get there? pg&e i is currently in banankru. their entire market cap is about $2 billion. california has a state surplus. we could easily take over the utility in bankruptcy, either by

issuing bonds or by using some of that surplus. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to talk about what is happening in california. in addition to congresss been ro khanna, we will be joined by amika mota, former prisoner firefighter come and talk about what that means and for the prisoners today who are fighting fires. and we will speak with an l.a. times reporter who has been talking to people who are heading to these mistakes that are blazing in the workers don't realize this. the owners have evacuateted but the workers have not been told. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we continue to look at the climate fueled fires raging across california. now turning to how the blazes are disproportionately affecting some of the states most

vulnerable communities. as "the new york times" reports, a growing number of rich people are hiring private firefighters to protect their property for up to $3000 a day. domestic gardeners who tend to some of the most opulent homes in los angeles attended work despite the getty fire evacuation order earlier this week. many of their employers failed to even tell them not to come in. that is according to a los angeles times article headlined "housekeepers and gardeners go to work despite the flames." amy: we're joined by the journalist who reported the story, brittny mejia. welcome to democracy now! tell us what you found and housekeepers and gardeners go to wowork despite the flames. describe the situation for us. >> thank you for h having me. when i g got sent out to the fie around 4 4:00 in the morning and by thehe time i got t to brentw,

it was mostly evacuated. there were maybe a few people left trying to see if they could sit tight. for the most part, it was completely empty. after i left the neighborhood where there were homes that burned, i saw a taxi coming in and dropping off a housekeeper who was pretty convinced her bosses were still there because they had not called her. they did not tell her anything. there is just ash coming down and so much smoke in this neighborhood. she is ringing the bell. we quickly learned her boss was not home and h had evacuated at 3:00 in the morning. so as we -- as i gave her a ride and we headed back down, we bumped into a significant number of other workers who had come in. there was a construction worker who made it to his jobsite and saw the fire and then left. another woman who was trying to get into the mandatory evacuation zone to try to go to work because she also had not heard from her boss. a babysitter who was covering her face with a paper towel. the bus would not take her to

pacific palisades. she ended up being stuck right around this area. it was a significant amomount of workers who when we did get a hold of the bosses were when i was able to talk to them, they just fororgot to tell their workers not to come in. nermeen: where the workers aware that there was an evacuation order in place? >> yes. that is the thing. no, this woman who was dropped off by the taxi -- i'm not even sure how she got in. i think she was just desperate to go to work that day. yeah, she had no idea. she was like, oh, there's a helicopter. as we spoke, she observed there was a helicopter nose like, yeah, therere's a lot of s smokd ash because there is a fire pretty nearby. at that moment, i think i could tell she was scared. she told the owner, i'm scared to be here by myself. amy: you speak spanish. he had been interviewing people in spapanish. orll of the e orders going out

in spanish to people understand the dangers? >> i don't know how targeted it wawas to the workers who come io this neighborhood. i don't know if the focus was mostly on the people live in brentwood -- which i'm sure i feel like that would be mostly english-speaking. i don't know how much was targeted because when i spoke to the workers, quite a few of them had no idea at least about where the evacuation zone was. if you are not even aware there was a fire and learned when they arrived. i don't know how much information they were getting to help their decision not to come to work. amy: speaking of people in danger, we want to turn to the more than 4000 firefighters working across california to contain the blazes. at least 700 of them are california prisoners. while salaried firefighters earn an annual median wage of $74,000 a year plus benefits, prisoners earn about one dollar an hour when fighting actctive fires. we go now to san francisco where

we're joined by amika mota, former prisoner firefighter. policy director at the young women's freedom center in san francisco. they do so much of the most dangerous wowork. we are talking to you again stop when you were in prison, you are a firefighter. explain the situation right now. -- inks for having me back again, amy. in california, we are certainly having a deep concern for our folks that are out there on the front lines fighting fires while incarcerated, as well as all of the other firefighters that are battling the blazes across california. issues have not changed much since we talked

last time. we have worked on a number of legislative efforts to try to balance out the inequities of a labor force that works fighting fires on the inside, and then comes home and can't do the same. i think there are a couple e of narratives that really exist about this force of incarcerated firefighters. this is a positive prison program that is benefiting incarcerated people, or is this capitalist abuse of the most vulnerablele population -- which we know our prisons are warehouse with black and brown folks? so i think we are still at that same point. amy: what is astounding is the level of experience and danger they face and the experience they get. when they get out of prison, they are not allowed to be firefighters? so in-depth often serving the rich, being privatate firefights

around estates. >> absolutely. i think it really doesn't make sense but we come home and there's this large barrier. we are not able to get emt licenses, which is what we need to be working at municipal fire departments, because there are clear restrictions on being licensed when you have two or more felonies on your record or sevenve a charge that is years or less. basically, we have folks that are really trained up and have the potential to come home and be a really productive member of careers,nd have stable and that is not happening. we have folks that are coming home unable to keep minimum-wage jobs because of the barriers that exist. amy: very quickly, i want to ask

congressman ro khanna, this issue of the prisoners making like one dollar -- is it a dollar a day or one dollar an hour? well, the fire camps, it is about a dollar an hour. amy: when we were there, the commanders at the camp said these people should be making more than this. we are talking about more than 40 camps that this has been the wage for decades. >> it is outrageous. there is a discussion n in congressss. yesterday, we posted on social media are outrage at how the prisoners are being treated. there is no excuse in this country to abuse the prison population. obvious the, there is incarceration, but once someone is a prisoner, they should still be compensated for basic labor. and certainly, when they leave as you pointed out, they should be able to reintegrate into society and have the value of

the expertise and experience they have gained. amy: also, on the issue of the fossil fuel economy, before we get to impeachment, if you can make this very brief, i want to go to syria where president trump has abandoned the kurds but said he is protecting the oil fields, both in northern syria -- that is where u.s. soldiers will go -- and thousands he is sending to saudi arabia to protect her oil fields. >> i appreciatate your raising this because this is a blatantnt violation of the geneva convention. we can't send troops to extract oil. you can't steal l oil from other countries. and our presence in syria is still unconstitutional. there has been no congressional authorization. so it was s appalling to h heare presidenent say ththat. amy: we want to thank amika mota of the young women's freedom center in san francisco, talking about the imprisoned firefighters, and brittny mejia

of the los angeles times speaking to us from los angeles. now we are going to turn with ro khanna to the issue of impeachment. remake of the house is holding a historic vote to formalize the impeachment process against president trump. the probe centers on whether trump was held military as withheld military aid to pressure ukrainian president zelensky to investigate trump's political rival joe biden and his son hunter, who served on the board of burisma holdings, a ukrainian energy company. congressman ro khanna, serve on the amity of oversight and reform. talk about the significance of today's vote. >> it is a very important vote. i commend speaker pelosi because we're going to have virtually unanimous vote among the democratic caucus to affirm the impeachment inquiry and to set forward the process going foforward on how we're going to

get to articles of impeachment and have a vote on impeachment. the important thing to understand is the evidence is overwhelming that the president was pressuring zelensky intnto investigating his political rival. and it was not just one phone call. what we have seen emerge is a pattern, a conspiracy, lasting months to use the united states government to benefit donald trump's own reelection campaign. nermeen: the republicans have condemned the entire inquiry saying it is undemocratic. could you respond to that? how do you think republican members of the hououse are likey to vote? not been undemocratic. in fact, the process has been followed and a very, very fair way. we've had a private setting for investigations step in fact gathering. in that setting, republicans have been able to be there. they've been able to ask questions. they been able to examine witnesses. the reality is, they are the

ones who have been obstructing the process. nonow that the fact gathering is ending, the hearings are goingg to be public and the president's lawyerss are going to have due process rights. what is so sad in this process is the attack on civil serervans that is basically undermining public service. there used to be a stature to serving in government. and it is government that is done so many extraordinaire things from innovation to help and protect amameric s security. anna republicans have launched a systematic attack on career civil servants to try to defend this president. amy: explained particularly of vindmantestimony the significance of who he is and d what happened behind closd doors come if you know, the screaming match that took place as the republicans tried to use that moment to get at the

identity of the whistleblower thinking it was a whistleblower who he spoke to. >> well, he is a patriot. he is someone who wonon the pure heart, w who s served this couny hononorably. and you have the presintnt's allies goioing on televisionn accucusing vindman of f having l loyalties, accusing him m of conspiraracy theories, accusing him of betraying the interest of the united states. all vindman did was comply, as he was legally required to do, with the congressional subpoena, congressional inquiry for testimony. and what he did was testify to the best of his knowledge. so the attack on people like vindman -- amy: fox is suggesting he committed treason. >> yes. thisis is an attack on people wo are not political. they are not people who are working on trump or any

campaign.. these are people who are serving our country. and you've seen now, not just the vindman, people with state department, intelligence officers, with career civil servants -- republicans are basically saying they are not worthy, they are dishonest, they are unpatriotic. i ask you, when we are doing this, how are people going to have faith in government? where the next great scientists or leaders going to want to work with united states government? what a loss rest at a time when our government really helps create the internet, help create antibiotics, helped create sensors. and we're going to now diminish government at a time where e we need a a strong gogovernment partnership with the private sector and research universities for america to compete? the republicans -- it is not just this president. it is important they are -- to understand they a aren't putting so much damage on the institutions of our democracy and government. amy: will these impeaeachment

hearings be telelevised? >> yeses. they absolutely will. they will be televised. the testimony will be public stuck republicans will get to ask questions. whether republicans are realizing -- amy: we have to leave it there. >> t