Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-07-16 Wednesday

Episode Date: July 16, 2025

Headlines for July 16, 2025; Disappearing Video, Legal Threats: How UnitedHealth, Largest U.S. Health Insurer, Silences Critics; New Release of Bob Dylan’s “Hard Rain” as Nobel Winners Warn of Nuclear Risk on Trinity Test 80th Anniversary; “Farmworkers’ Voices Are Not Being Heard”: UFW President Teresa Romero on ICE Raids & Workers’ Lives

From New York, this is Democracy Now. I had a phone call into the operating room saying that United Healthcare wanted me to call them about one of the patients who was having surgery today, who was actually asleep, having surgery. You know, said I had to call right now. So I scrubbed out of my case and I called United Healthcare. And the gentleman said he needed some information about her. I want to know her diagnosis and whether her inpatient stay should be justified. United Health's campaign to quiet critics. That's the headline of a New York Times expasse of the largest health insurance company in the United States.

We'll speak with journalist David Enrich. Then ICE raids terrorize immigrant communities. I'm a single mother, and I have three children who depend on me. And it breaks my heart that every time I leave the house, they tell me, mommy, be careful, because they can take you and send you to Mexico. And we're going to stay here without you. We'll go to California to speak with Teresa Romero, the first immigrant Latina president, of the United Farm Workers of America.

And finally, 80 years ago today, the first nuclear bomb in the world was tested in the desert of New Mexico. Today, the Nobel Laureate Assembly for the Prevention of Nuclear War is gathering in Chicago. Nobel Prize-winning scientists, peace activists, and musicians.

They'll release two new renditions of Nobel laureate Bob Dylan's a hard reigns are going to fall. All that and all that and more coming up. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman.

In the Gaza Strip, at least 21 people were killed Wednesday morning at a food distribution site run by the militarized, shadowy, so-called Gaza humanitarian foundation. Survivors report guards fired tear gas at starving Palestinians lined up to recede parcels triggering a panic that saw at least 15 people die as a result of the stampede. According to the United Nations, since May, at least 870,000, 75 Palestinians have been killed another 5,600 wounded by Israeli army and U.S. contractor gunfire while trying to gather food. Most of them shot close to GHF sites. Meanwhile, Palestinian doctors report stocks of specialized formula for premature infants have run dry due to Israel's continuing blockade.

As at Abu Halib is the mother of a five-month-old struggling to survive at Nasser Hospital, where she says she says, She's witnessed three other children die of malnutrition. Once the milk carton is finished, you need the same type of milk that she took before. Where do we get it from? The crossings are closed. The whole world is closed in our faces. For how long must we remain like this? I mean, do we wait until the baby dies?

U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has co-ven Israeli authorities to launch a probe into the killing of 20-year-old old U.S. citizen Sefola Mussolet, who was beaten to death Friday by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. In a statement, Ambassador Huckabee wrote, quote, there must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act, unquote. Huckabee, however, did not demand a U.S. investigation into Seif's murder as his family is requesting. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers backed by Israeli soldiers are continuing to attack Palestinian communities on Tuesday, dozens of Israeli settlers set fire to a vehicle yard in the village of Burka, east of

Ramallah, destroying dozens of cars. Auto parts dealer Mohamed Asalia says it was the sixth time he's been attacked by settlers. Who said we're not afraid? The settlers scare us, not only in this town, in all villages, but specifically here. They come and burn cars, land, and they cut down olive trees. They burn. We do not have weapons to resist them. The army comes and they stand with the settlers.

They don't come to protect us, but to stand with thumb. This happens over and over. Israel's military says it's bombed, the Syrian Army headquarters in Damascus. Syrian media reported two civilians were injured in the attack, which came even as Israel separately stepped up attacks on the Drew's majority city of Suwaita in southern Syria. Israel's attacks came as fighting resumed between Syrian government forces and Drew's armed groups after a ceasefire agreement collapsed. Delegates from 30 countries gathered in Bogota, Colombia, on Tuesday,

for an emergency conference on the situation in Gaza. The conference is led by South Africa and Colombia, two members of the Hague group, a collection, a coalition of nations that pledged to cut military sales to Israel and to comply with an international criminal court arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Tuesday, Francesca Abanesi, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told the conference all nations are obliged to take action against Israel's occupation and the slaughter of Palestinians. Each state must immediately review and suspend all ties with the state of Israel, military, strategic, political, diplomatic, economic relations, both imports and experts, and to make sure that their private sectors, insurers, banks, pension funds,

universities, and other goods and service providers in the supply chain do the same. To see our recent interview with Francesca Albanese, visit our website, DemocracyNow.org. The U.S. Senate will take up President Trump's request to claw back more than $9 billion in Congressional approved spending after Vice President J.D. Vance broke a 50-50 tie Tuesday to open debate on a rescission bill. The legislation is aimed at, codifying cuts made by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Doge to foreign aid, including life-saving global health programs, emergency food and shelter assistance, peacekeeping, and economic development.

The bill would also eliminate all $1.1 billion allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the next two years, zeroing out federal funding for PBS NPR and community TV and radio stations. PBS president, Paula Kerger, called the bill an existential threat for local stations. Democrats condemn the move as a power grab by President Trump. This is Michigan Democratic Senator Gary Peters. Funding laws are still laws. And Congress passed these laws with bipartisan support to direct resources to these programs. No president gets unilateral say on how any law is implemented.

and no president gets to overrule Congress's bipartisan laws. The Pentagon said Tuesday, half the 4,000 National Guard troops deployed to suppress protests in response to mass immigration raids in California will be removed from Los Angeles. This comes six weeks after the Trump administration deployed the California National Guard to Los Angeles the first time in decades a president has deployed the National Guard without a governor's request. Some 700 active duty Marines will remain deployed in Los Angeles. We'll speak with the head of the United Farm Workers later in the broadcast. In Houston, Texas, a 22-year-old Palestinian man who is detained by federal agents without charge at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport for nine

days was released Monday following mounting pressure from advocates. Mahanid J.M. Alshruf had obtained a U.S. visa before traveling to Texas from the occupied West Bank to reunite with his father, who's a U.S. citizen and his siblings. Advocates said he'd completed a years-long immigration process and successfully passed rigorous background checks by both U.S. and Israeli authorities. Auschruf was reportedly held in a waiting room, denied access to legal counsel, a change of clothes, proper food, or basic hygiene. Customs and border protection agents are typically prohibited from detaining people for longer

than 72 hours. In Washington State, long-time immigrant, farm worker, and organizer, Alfredo Lelhoires Zeparino, has agreed to voluntarily leave the United States after being detained in an ICE jail for four months. A crowd of his supporters and family gathered outside Tacoma's Northwest Ice Processing Center Monday as 25-year-old Juarez appeared for an immigration hearing inside the jail. A judge has given him until August to return to his birth country of Mexico. For now, he's still detained. Warras was taken by ICE agents in March after they stopped him on a rural road as he drove his girlfriend to her job on a tulip bulb farm. When he asked for a warrant, the agents reportedly broke his car window and handcuffed him. Supporters denounced his arrest as a

kidnapping and said he was targeted over his labor activism. Huarez has lived in the United States for over a decades since he was a young child. To see our interview with Alfredo Le Lojara Zeparino when he was 16 years old. In our coverage of his case, go to Democracy Now.org. In more news from Washington State, former Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckert and at least eight others have been indicted on federal charges related to protests in June against Trump's immigration raids. Stuckart and over 30 others were arrested last month as a crowd gathered outside the Spokane ICE office to oppose the detention of a 21-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker whom Stuckart was sponsoring on Capitol Hill. President Trump's pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United

Nations Tuesday applauded Republican efforts to defund the United Nations, saying he'd go even further, if confirmed, by the Senate. Mike Walts testified that if confirmed, he would work to dismantle the U.N. agencies for Palestinian refugees. He also backed Republican efforts to cancel about $1 billion in federal funding to the U.N. as part of the Senate's rescission package. Walt served as U.S. National Security Advisor from January to May before his removal over the Signalgate scandal in which Waltz added the editor of the Atlantic Magazine to a group chat about U.S. war plans against Yemen. He was grilled over the scandal by Delaware Democratic Senator Chris Coons.

I mean, this was demonstrably sensitive information. And the question I asked was, were you investigated for this expansion of the signal group to include a journalist? The White House conducted an investigation, and my understanding is the Department of Defense is still conducting an investigation. Was any disciplinary action taken? From the White House investigation centers? Yes. No, the use of signal was not only authorized. It's still authorized and highly recommended. Republicans on the House Rules Committee have blocked a Democratic-led effort to force the Justice Department to release documents related to its investigation and to the dead convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, whom Donald Trump once called a terrific guy.

This comes after President Trump published a lengthy diatribe defending his attorney general, Pam Bond, handling of the Epstein files and calling interest in the Epstein case a waste of time. Trump's post sparked an unprecedented backlash among his MAGA supporters. For the first time ever, Trump was ratioed on his own social media platform, meaning he drew more replies than shares, the vast majority of them negative. On Tuesday, Attorney General Bondi refused to answer reporters' questions about her claim last February, which she has later reversed, that Epstein's client list was sitting on her desk to review.

I appreciate your question, but this today is about fentanyl overdoses throughout our country and people who have lost loved ones to fentanyl. That's the message that we're here to send today. Nothing about Epstein. I'm not going to talk about Epstein. Go ahead. Meanwhile, a Wired Magazine investigation has raised new questions about the Justice Department's handling of prison surveillance, video.

from the New York City federal jail where Jeffrey Epstein died six years ago and what later was ruled a suicide. According to Wired, metadata reveals that nearly three minutes of footage were cut from what the Trump administration described as full raw video from the only functioning camera near Jeffrey Epstein's prison cell the night before he was found dead. And in Arizona, Adelita Grahava won the Democratic nomination by a landslide Tuesday in a closely watched special election primary for the congressional seat left vacant when her father, Raul Grijalva, died in March. Four other candidates were vying for the nomination, including 25-year-old activist Deja Fox, who is advocated for generational change in politics and had criticized Grijalva's legacy last name and Daniel Hernandez,

who survived a mass shooting in Tucson in 2011, where former Congresswoman, Gabriel Giffords, was shot. He was an intern at Gifford's office at the time. Adelita Grohava was born in Tucson, has held multiple positions in public office and garnered a list of heavyweight endorsements, including Congressmember Alexandra Kirste, and Senator Bernie Sanders. If elected, Grohava would become the first Latina to represent Arizona in Congress. Grahava will face Republican nominee Daniel Boutierrez in the general special election in September. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman in New York, joined by Democracy Now is Juan Gonzalez in Chicago.

Hi, Juan. Hi, Amy, and welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. Well, we're going to go back to Chicago later in the broadcast on this day that 80 years ago, the first atomic bomb was detonated in the desert of New Mexico. and there is a historic gathering that's taking place now in Chicago. But first, we go to this New York Times Exposet. More than 50 million Americans have health insurance coverage under United Health, the largest health insurance company in the United States.

On Sunday, the New York Times published a major expasse on United Health. The investigations headline United Health's campaign to quiet critics by journalist David Enrich. The article opens with the story of Mary Strauss, a filmmaker and her father, Dan Strauss, who runs a chain of pharmacies in Wisconsin. Together, they made a docu series critical of United Health called Modern Medical Mafia that was available on Amazon and Vimeo until it wasn't. This is a clip from the series trailer. And pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare professionals in America. Last year, 300 independent pharmacies closed. When it comes to health care, whether you're a Republican or Democrat or independent, we all know the same thing.

We want accessible, affordable, quality health care. Although it may not look like a battlefield that's not guns and knives drawn, the harm is just as great. Killing people, causing people to suffer without any consequence. You have to stand up. Those that can speak up should speak up. In his New York Times investigation, journalist David Enrich writes about the modern medical mafia series, quote, Ms. Strauss had no way of knowing it, but the video had been taken down after a law firm working for United Health Group, one of the country's largest health care companies, sent a letter warning Amazon and another streaming service,

Vimeo, that the video was defamatory, Enrich wrote. He joins us now for more. David Enrich is the Deputy Investigations editor at the New York Times. Thank you so much for being with us. So your piece is called United Health's campaign to quiet critics. You're also the author of the book, Murder the Truth, Fear of the First Amendment in a secret campaign to protect the powerful, which certainly ties in. Welcome back to Democracy Now, David. If you can start off by explaining what happened to Mary and Dan Strauss, also the tip you got and how this reveals this larger campaign of United Health. Well, the tip I got about probably a month and a half ago was that Amazon had received a threatening letter from a law firm representing United Health where they were trying to get negative information about the company taken down from various platforms, whether it was streaming platforms like Prime Video or social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

And this struck me as a little bit surprising. companies do this kind of stuff all the time and powerful people do as well. What surprised me about this was that United Health's lawyers were really going after some fairly obscure stuff. And that suggested to me that this was kind of a campaign of desperation that was going on using really hard-edged envelope pushing tactics to intimidate companies, individuals, social media platforms into essentially censoring. their users. And when I talked to Mary Strauss and her father, who had both worked on this film, both of them knew the film was gone, but they had not really understood why until I called them and explained to them about this letter that I had seen, where United Health makes some really kind of, I would say, tenuous arguments about why the video violated Amazon's terms of

service, including claiming that the documentary had doxed a United Health subsidiary by simply showing a street sign in their home state of Minnesota that was near where their offices were, which, again, struck me as a really kind of an act of desperation and something that reflected the increasingly aggressive tactics that a lot of big companies and powerful people are using these days to shut down criticism and even avoid scrutiny at a pretty basic level. And, David, it wasn't just this film. For instance, your piece talks about what happened to an obscure small local paper,

of the Examiner News in Mount Kisco, New York, and its publisher, Adam Stone. Could you talk about what happened there? Yeah, this was, and this happened even before the murder of United Healthcare CEO last December. This was back about a year ago now. And Adam Stone is this kind of crusading journalist in the suburbs of New York City, who was, I think, very alarmed by the increase in power that United Health was wielding in the medical community in his area. And so he had written a bunch of investigative pieces looking at the company and its practices and how that was affecting not only patients, but also some of the company's employees.

And someone at the company leaked him audio of an internal meeting at this United Health subsidiary, which he then wrote an article about it and included part of the audio that he had received. That audio, he actually published more than he had initially intended to as just like a technical error on his end. and the long portion that he published included some information about patients' medical information. As soon as he realized this within a couple hours, he took it down and replaced it with a much shorter clip.

But United Health, in the space of just a few hours, had heard the long version, and about a week after he had published this and then removed it, he received a letter from a top executive at United Health in the area, who

basically said that you may have just committed a crime. You need to destroy all of the reporting materials you have. And if you don't, and if you continue to publish stuff like this, we might try to go to court and seek an injunction against you continuing to publish this. And Adam Stone, a lot of publishers, especially at small news organizations, in that situation, I think probably would have complied with the demand. Adam Stone refused. He then got another letter from the General Counsel of this United Health subsidiary that reiterated those threats, he again refused. And, you know, at that point, United Health just kind of walked away. And I guess realizing it wouldn't, this tactic wouldn't work.

But again, it was reflective of a very aggressive campaign to shut down criticism and scrutiny often targeted at people or institutions that do not have the, generally do not have the resources or the time to defend themselves. I want to play a clip from a viral tick talk made by Dr. Elizabeth Potter, a plastic surgeon in Austin, Texas, who received a call from United Health while in the middle of performing breast surgery on a patient, a cancer patient. It's 2025, and insurance just keeps getting worse. I just said two bilateral deeps and two bilateral suspenders for patients. And I've never had this happen before, but during the second deep, I got a phone call into the operating room saying that United Healthcare wanted me to call them about one of the patients who was having surgery today, who was actually asleep having surgery, and, you know, said I had to call right now.

So I scrubbed out of my case, and I called United Healthcare, and the gentleman said he needed some information about her, want to know her diagnosis, and whether her inpatient stay should be justified. And I was like, to understand that she's asleep right now, and she has breast cancer. And the gentleman said, actually, I don't. That's a different department that would know that information. So that's Dr. Elizabeth Potter, who's performing cancer surgery on a woman and is called out of the surgery, scrubs out when she gets a call from United Health. David, if you can explain what happens, how she falls into the critic category with this TikTok that went viral where she's explaining what happened. Yeah, well, United, this TikTok video started to get real traction online and United, it obviously reflected very badly on United Health. Some of the commenters on the TikTok video expressed pleasure and kind of celebration at the fact that United Health Care's CEO,

had been murdered just about a month earlier. And so, I mean, I get why the company was concerned about this and not happy about it. They also disputed some of the kind of facts that were in Potter's video, although I will say that I've reviewed a lot of evidence that substantiates and corroborates what Potter has said. But in any case, they said about a week after the video went viral on TikTok and Instagram, United Health's Outside Lawyer, this is the law firm, Claire Locke, sent a threatening letter to Potter that was basically, first of all, disputing some of the facts in the video, although, again, I don't think they were right about that, but they were disputing

some of the facts, but more important, they were making the argument that in an era when there were people who were trying to kill their executives, or at least one of their executives, it was dangerous to have this kind of intense criticism, and in fact, it risked inciting future violence against United Health employees. And that was an argument that I've seen them make in other cases, including with the modern medical mafia video as well. And that I understand why they are very concerned about the safety of their employees, but it's a really pretty aggressive argument to make that saying something online that is criticizing a big, powerful company should be off limits because it risks inciting violence. And anyway, Potter refused to take

down the video and apologize for the video, which United Health had demanded she would do. And that seemed for a little bit to be the end of the matter. But as it turned out, Dr. Potter was starting her own surgery center in Austin, Texas. And she needed United Health to sign off on that surgery center being part of the insurers in-network program so that basically patients could go there without having to pay huge amounts of money for out-of-network coverage. And according to Dr. Potter right around the time that she aired this video, United Health cut off negotiations with her and refused to classify her surgery center as in-network. And she perceived that as a clear point of retaliation. I will say United Health, again, disputes that. They say that they had

made the decision not to classify her as in-network prior to the publication of her video. But again, from Dr. Potter's point of view, and I've seen evidence to support this, it definitely seemed like the severance of negotiations began happened right around the time of this video and again that would assuming that's true that would act that would represent a really unusual and highly aggressive act of vengeance that would have real implications for patients potentially rather than just the person who was criticizing the company and david uh did you talk about the firm that's doing all this work for united health claire locke and uh some of their principles or what you know about them and also your own interaction with the law firm at the New York Times.

Yeah. Yeah, so Claire Locke, it was founded in 2014 by a husband and wife, a pair of lawyers, who they specialize in threatening and suing news organizations on behalf of their clients, which overwhelmingly are big companies and powerful people. And they've developed a reputation, which I think they really relish, that they are the most aggressive and have no holds barred law firm in this space in the country. And that certainly has been borne out in my interactions with them over the years. I've been on, my colleagues and I have been on the receiving end of more threatening letters than I can count. Occasionally,

they will sue journalists as well. My personal interactions, and I wrote a whole book that centered in large part on Claire Locke and its tactics. And as I was wrapping that, up and doing an article about them for the New York Times, they went on a real tie rate against me trying to discredit me with my employer and with my book publisher, making a bunch of ad hominem accusations about me, which were not true, and even going to really great and successful lengths to figure out who some of my sources were and then threaten them with litigation if they didn't hand over all of their communications with me. And, you know, this was a year or so ago that this happened with me. And at which point, I had already been spending a lot of time looking into

their tactics. And so I shouldn't, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was surprised. But at this point, I'm not surprised to see what they're doing for United Health. I was more surprised that a company like United Health would give a law firm such free reign to, and really kind of terrorize people that are speaking out against them, because this country is, you know, founded on the idea of free speech. And that applies to people who are speaking their truth to powerful companies just as much as it applies to just normal political debate. David Enrich, you want to thank you for being with us. Deputy Investigations Editor at the New York Times will link to your expose United Health's campaign to quiet critics.

He's also author of the book, Murder the Truth, Fear, the First Amendment, and a secret campaign to protect the powerful. When we come back, 80 years. ago today, the first nuclear bomb in the world was detonated in the desert of New Mexico. Today, the Nobel Laureate Assembly for the Prevention of Nuclear War is gathering in Chicago. It's Nobel Prize-winning scientists, peace activists, and they'll be releasing two new renditions of Nobel laureate Bob Dylan's hard rain. We'll speak with the founder of the Kronos Quartet and with a physicist who helps set the doomsday clock each year, a metaphor for how close humanity is to destruction.

Stay with us. Where have you been my blue-eyed sun? And where have you been, my darling, young one? I've stumbled on the side of 12 misty mountains. I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways. I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests. I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans. I've been 10,000 miles in the mouth of a graveyard.

And it's a heart. It's a heart, it's a heart, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard rain's a hard rain, a A brand new version of Bob Dylan's A Hard Rains Are Going to Fall by Kronos Quartet, the Hard Rane Collective, featuring Alison Russell. This is Democracy Now. Percy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. 80 years ago today, July 16th, 1945 in the desert of New Mexico in a place called Alamogordo. The U.S. carried out the world's first nuclear detonation. Three weeks later, the U.S. go on to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing at least an estimated 120,000 people. The atomic bombs were developed by the secret U.S. government research program called the Manhattan Project. This is J. Robert Oppenheimer, head of the Manhattan Project, sharing his response to that first nuclear explosion in New Mexico 80 years ago today.

He spoke in a rarely seen NBC News documentary produced nearly two decades later. We knew the world would not be the same. Two people laughed. A few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the prince that he should do his duty. And to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.

I suppose we all thought that one way or another. Scientists J. Robert Oppenheimer responding to the first nuclear test 80 years ago today. Three years before that, in 1942, the University of Scherner, Chicago was the site of the historic first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, a key step in the path to creating a nuclear weapon. University of Chicago would go on to host the bulletin of the atomic scientists, which was formed by scientists from the Manhattan Project, who were worried about the risks to civilization from nuclear weapons. The group now sets the doomsday clock each year as a metaphor for how close to humanity is to destruction. Well, today, there's a gathering at the University of Chicago to confront the crisis of the increasing risk of nuclear war called the Nobel Laureate Assembly for the Prevention of Nuclear War that's bringing together Nobel Prize winning scientists, peace activists, and musicians. It'll culminate with a performance by the Grammy Award-winning Kronos Quartet and the release of two renditions of literature Nobel laureate, Bob Dylan's, a hard reigns, are going to fall.

that feature the band, the quartet, playing with nearly 50 artists from around the world. This is an excerpt. There are hundreds of glee where the souls are forgotten. Their black is the color. No, there's a number. And I turn it and speaking and thinking and breathing. and reflect from the mountains of what's going to see it And I stayed on the ocean until I start singing

And I know my song well before I start singing And it's a heart It's a heart It's a heart Bob Bob Dylan's hard rain. It's going to run. Ringo Storrhgy Pop, Allison Russell, Willie Nelson, Lori Anderson, and so many dozens of other musicians to talk more about how the Nobel Prize team and the Bolton of Atomic Scientists reached out to the Kronos Quartet with the idea for this project and about this Nobel laureate assembly for the prevention of nuclear war.

We're joined by David Harrington, violinist, founder, and artistic director of the Kronos Quartet, which is focused for over half a century on the intersection of music and activism. Also with us, Daniel Holtz, Professor of Physics, astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago, chair of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Professor Holtz is also founding director of the University of Chicago Existential Risk Laboratory. He is a co-organizer of the Nobel Laureate Assembly for the Prevention of Nuclear War underway today. We welcome you both to Democracy Now. Let's start with Professor Holtz. the significance of this day. First, you know, of course, the Assembly at the University of Chicago,

but what happened 80 years ago and why that is so significant in the desert of New Mexico? Yeah, so first, thanks for having me here and for discussing this on such an important day. The 80th anniversary of Trinity, Trinity was sort of the birth of a new age, and the age of nuclear weapons, and we're still in that age, and the threats that people recognize that Oppenheimer's quote that you just played kind of captures, they're still with us. We now have thousands of these weapons. They're on high alert. They can go off at any moment

within an hour. Civilization could end. That's still where we are now. And, And so given that, there's a sense of urgency that we need to kind of step back from this brink. As it's what's sort of hard to understand is here we are 80 years later, and it's ever more dangerous that these weapons are still there threatening us. And so this whole thing is about trying to find a way to kind of move back away from the possibility of new. nuclear annihilation. And Professor Holtz, especially now, what's your sense of what our political leaders have learned over these many decades in terms of nuclear weapons?

Of course, we have a president now who, in his first term, withdrew the United States from the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty and withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. and then, of course, has been risking with his attacks on Iran, a greater problems in terms of the threats of a possible nuclear war to Iran. Could you talk about what our leaders are learning or have learned? Yeah, so that's a very important point, which is, and I think all of your audience knows this, the world is becoming much more unstable. There's a sense that things are deteriorating globally in many different avenues, and that makes nuclear exchange, nuclear war, much more likely.

And while this is happening, the awareness of the nuclear threat is decreasing. There's so many things to be distracted by that there's a tendency for people to focus on other, you know, very significant threats, such as climate change or AI or pandemics, but the nuclear threat is still with us and growing. And I would say probably since the end of the Cold War, it's fallen off the radar, both of the public and of leadership. And that combination of the risks increasing, the world becoming more unstable,

and attention to this issue decreasing, is particularly alarming because it means the likelihood that will sort of stumble into a nuclear war in the end of civilization that that could happen by mistake or miscalculation has gone way up in the past years to the point where we're so alarmed that we're doing everything we can to kind of draw attention to this risk and try to find ways to mitigate it. And that's the whole point of this Nobel laureate assembly. We're bringing together Nobel laureates and nuclear experts and trying to find a way forward, a way to reduce the risk, get the messages out to the public and also to leaders.

Here are steps that can be taken to reduce this. We need to get the awareness back, and we need to do everything we can to prevent the sort of nuclear annihilation that would impact literally everyone on the planet. It's in all of our interests to find a way to reduce these risks and these threats. David Harrington, I'd like to bring you into this conversation, founder of the remarkable Kronos Quartet, violinist, yourself. If you can talk about this musical collaboration, everyone from Ringo Starr to Willie Nelson to Alison Russell to your own Kronoskortez,

And people may forget the Nobel laureate, Bob Dylan, Patty Smith, went to receive the award for him years ago. So why did you choose hard rain? Talk about the significance back in 1962 of Bob Dylan's hit. You know, it's remarkable that a 21-year-old singer-songwriter, wrote this song in 1962 and how when you observe and know the words of this song very clearly how important it is to our time right now. And so when Owen Gaffney from the Nobel Committee asked if Kronos would be interested in reimagining the song, it took me attention.

of a second to say yes. I didn't know how much would be involved in doing what we ended up doing, which is probably a good thing. Because we had to do this, you know, on tour, we had to do it, to make what we wanted, we needed the whole music community, and we got it. And so with Elia Einhorn master producer we were able to assemble

I think musicians that represent humanity in a way that I'm so proud that the music community stepped up and we get to play tonight in fact we're closing the assembly that's right

and you know for music to be in that position I think is a good thing. And I'm so happy to be a part of this. And Daniel is such a leader in our world. And for me, this is something I've wanted Kronos to be a part of for 52 years. And today we are. I'm very, very happy about that.

And David Harrington, this cooperation, between music and also the scientists involved in this assembly. It's your hope to break through what Daniel Holtz is talking about, the lack of attention by the general public to the dangers of nuclear war? Yes, and the fact that there are very few survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki alive right now. So the people that know absolutely what it's like to be bombed and be in a nuclear explosion, I think we're forgetting that this actually happened. And so we need those testimonies and we need everyone in the world to know how dangerous and how awful this is for all of us.

And if music and musicians can step up and project those kinds of concerns about all of our future, then music is doing its job. And what we need to do as musicians is listen. And when I listen to what's happening in the world, it's terrifying. And I want my musical community to do something about it. is our first step. I want to thank you so much. You were just going to say something, Professor Holtz, and then we're going to wrap up. Yeah, I was just going to say, I mean, it is so important because this brings the public

into this, the kind of enthusiasm for this. But it also is part of what makes us all hopeful. It's very inspirational. You listen to the music. You're kind of captivated. it's part of, you know, the glory of humanity. It's what we want to preserve. It's what we're all working for.

And so this combination, this way to end the assembly where we're spending three days focused on all the bad stuff, all the ways things can go wrong, but also focused on all the opportunities to change course to make things better, the perfect way to end is with the Kronos. So we're just so excited and honored. Thank you. And how do people, David, have access to this song, Hard Rain, written in 1962 right around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis? Yes. Yeah, it came out.

This recording came out in his two forms this morning, and it's released by Red Hot, and I invite everyone to check it out, turn it up loud, and play it proud. Well, I want to thank you both for being with us. We will link to it at Democracy Now.org. I want to thank David Harrington, who is the violinist and founder, artistic director of the Kronos Quartet, a part of the Hard Rain Collective. And Professor Daniel Holtz, physicist, a professor of astronomy, astrophysics and physics at the University of Chicago, Chair of the Science and Security Board of the Bolton of Atomic Science. co-organizer of the Nobel Laureate Assembly for the Prevention of Nuclear War that's underway today at the University of Chicago. When we come back, as ice raids terrorize immigrant communities around the country, we'll speak to Teresa Romero. She is the first Latina, first immigrant president of the United Farm Workers of America.

Stay with us. I saw 10,000 talkers whose tongues were ever broken. I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young token. And it's a hard. And it's a hard. It's a hard. It's a hard. It's a hard.

It's a hard. And it's a hard brain's going to fall. And what did you hear my brown-eyed son? And what did you hear, my darling, young one? I heard the sound of a thunder of a thunder that rolled out a warning. Hard rain drone, one of the two new versions. of Nobel laureate Bob Dylan's Hard Rain by Kronos Quartet and the Hard Rain Collective of 50 musicians around the world who are performing on this 80th anniversary of the detonation

of the nuclear test in Alamagorda, New Mexico, called the Trinity Test. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. We end today's show in California. We're a farm worker who fell from the roof of a greenhouse during an immigration. raid last week died over the weekend. His name Jaime Alanis, 57 years old. He'd worked at the farm in Camarillo for 10 years and provided for his wife and daughter who live in Mexico. His niece says he will now be laid to rest in his hometown of Michoacan. The raid Thursday led to an

hour's long confrontation between protesters defending the workers and federal border agents who tear gas crowds, which included children. Alanis is the first known person to die in an immigration rate as part of Trump's crackdown. A fundraising campaign for his family is raised more than $150,000. More than 360 people were arrested that day in dual raids, both in Camarillo and the coastal city of Carpentaria. As raids terrorize immigrant communities, people are also organizing and fighting back. We're joined now in Kern County, California by Teresa Romero, Longtime labor leader, first immigrant, Latina president of United Farm Workers of America. Welcome back to Democracy Now, Teresa. It's wonderful to have you with us.

If you can talk about this moment in history, we don't know how many hundreds, if not thousands, of farm workers have been detained, as many people say, kidnapped. If you can tell us what the situation is, now President Trump pulling back 2,000 now. Guard in Los Angeles, but leaving 2000 there, not to mention somewhere around 700 Marines. If you can tell us what the situation is and how you're organizing. Thank you very much for having me, Amy. I really appreciate it. This is such an important issue. Farm workers in our communities are terrified.

We have families who are being destroyed. like you said, Juan Alainz Garcia died as a result of these rates. And we need to understand that I have been using this word kidnapping for a long time because people are showing up, are wearing masks. They don't have an identification that they're showing to the workers. They have unmarked vehicles. They were there in great numbers. And if they had had a search warrant,

for an arrest warrant, all they needed to do was knock on the door and would let them in and they would have been arrested the person that weren't looking for. Unfortunately, the way they did it was to intimidate people, to intimidate farm workers. And it worked. Farm workers are terrified right now. And what is happening in terms of the agricultural industry as a whole with these raids and with workers even being able to show? show up in the fields?

You know, what happens is when something like this occurs in their communities, they may not go to work for a day or two, maybe three. We need to remember that farm workers do not make a lot of money. A lot

of them are seasonal workers so they cannot afford to not go to work. They have a family to support. Right now, that's pretty much all they do. Go to work and come home. And every time they leave their homes, they're terrified, not knowing if they're going to come back. And their children, who in many cases are U.S. citizens, are terrified to go to school because they don't know if mom and dad are going to be home when they get back.

And the Trump administration seems to be just reacting to what the agribusiness industries, economic concerns, but the farm workers are being left out of any discussions here. as to possible next steps by the administration in handling farm labor. Could you talk about what your union would like to see? Of course. And for many years, for decades, farm workers have not had a seat at the table. The previous administration, thankfully so we did. But it's going back to where farm workers' voices are not heard.

What they're trying to do right now is deport and replace. They want to report deport farm workers who have been working in the fields, putting foot on our tables for decades. And I want to replace them with workers who come here with the H-2A visa program. These farm workers are even more vulnerable because they're under 100% under the control of the employer. So this is not the answer, replacing people who are experienced, who are professional, who, who, have been in agriculture working sometimes for decades, three, four decades. It is not how we should repay them for the sacrifice and hard work. I want to turn to Floor, a Mexican immigrant who picks strawberries in the agricultural town of Oxnard, California.

Yesterday we interviewed the mayor of Oxnard. She says the recent immigration raids have terrorized her community. She talks about her work. yes lately it's been very ugly at our job site because we were working and the immigration cars are passing by it has affected us a lot at work we have lost days without going to work we have been stressed out afraid to go out to work in the mornings with fear of not knowing if we're going to get home or not well i'm more afraid because i'm a single mother and I have three children who depend on me.

And it breaks my heart that every time I leave the house, they tell me, Mommy, be careful because they can take you and send you to Mexico. And we're going to stay here without you. That's Flore, a farm worker in Oxenard. She says she's paid $3.20 for a 20-pound box of strawberries. Can you talk about the conditions and the economics of being a farm worker and then talk about children? You know, the conditions in the fields are

very difficult. In California, there are areas where the temperatures can get to 120, 150 degrees, and the workers are toiling the fields no matter what. They are bending over. They are picking whatever crop they keep picking. They run, for example, tomatoes. They run to a truck to dump their buckets, and they run back again and do it all over again. This is something that is dangerous. Workers have died because of heat illness. We have fought very hard right now, and we have filed lawsuits to prevent the administration and eyes from detaining people just because of the work that they're doing, the language that they speak, the color of their skin, and the judge agree with us. The judge gave us a temporary restraining.

order. Of course, the administration is saying that they're going to deport it. I mean, I'm sorry, they're going to fight it. But it is just unfair that good, hardworking people are being targeted like this. They're not criminals. They're not criminals. And sooner or later, the agriculture industry is going to suffer. When it comes to families, you know, like I said earlier, farm workers are going to work and coming back home. They don't go out to the park with the kids. They don't go to school functions with the kids. They don't take the kids on a weekend for a hamburger.

It is affecting themselves, their family, and their communities to a great extent. I wanted to ask you, Teresa, there are some farm worker advocacy groups, for instance, like the groups, Somos Polo del Pueblo, we are the power of the people that are calling for a more militant response, possibly a nationwide strike of farm workers in response to Trump's attacks, and they've circled the dates of July 16th to the 18th. What is the United Farm Workers' view of this kind of action at this point? Involved in this action. Look, we empower workers to do what they think it is the best thing to do to protect their rights.

We know from experience and you know our history that a strike takes a lot of discipline, a lot of work and engagement, a lot of commitment, and a lot of time to plan and organize. So although I see, we see what they're doing, this is not something that we're involved.

If we ever get to a point where we're going to do that, it would take a lot of planning looking at the pros and cons under the circumstances. So all I'm asking is whoever is going to be out there to just be careful. We don't want these people that are fighting for others to be retaliated against and detained my eyes. Teresa Romero, we want to thank you for being with us, longtime labor leader president to the United Farm Workers.

I'm Mimi Goodman with Juan Gonzalez.