Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20161123

As trumps election victory and early cabinet picks embolden White Supremacists and threreaten rereproductive rights, well speak with katherine franke, director of the center for gender and sexuality law at columbia university. How could a promise of real estate and the authorization of military force be expended under President Trump . We will speak with hina shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union National security project. And then the standoff at Standing Rock. I am a medic here. We have seen at least four gunshot wounds, three of them i know to the face and head. Rubber bullets. Were trying to keep people warm. Were trying to get them decontaminated and treating all kinds of wounds. People have been hit with canisters in the leg and that type of thing. Nermeen will get an updpdate from the fatather of Sophia Wilansky, who is in critical contion after reportedly being hit by concussion grenade. As we head into the thanksgiving weekend, we will speaeak withth roxanne d dunbarortiz. All of that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. O. Org, ththe war and pepeace reportrt. Im Nermeen Shaikh. Amy goodman is on assignment and will return on monday. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has reportedly accepted president elect donald trurumps offer to be ambassador to the United Nations, making her the first woman to be picked for his cabinet. The first five appointments were white men. Haley, the daughter of indian immigrants, has almost no Foreign Policy experience. Except for making the trips overseas to discuss economic devevelopment opportunities. During the president ial race, she supported florida senator marco rubio but ter said she vovoted for trump. If cononfirmed by the senate, she would be replalaced by South Carolina Lieutenant Governor henry mcmaster, a major ally of trump. This comes as trumump has repoportedly asked retired neurosurgeon and 2016 republican president ial candidate ben carson to consider taking the position of secretary of housing and urban development. Carson has no government experience and no experience with housing or urban policy. Trump held an ontherecord meeteting with r reporters and editors at the New York Times office tuesdayay after b briey and spontaneously cancnceling the meetineaearlier that morning. In the interview, trump saidid he would not seek to prosecute former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, despite spending months threatening to jail her and inciting crowds to chant lock her up, lock her up during his campaign. At the times building, trump also defended his chief strategist, stephen bannon, claiming he did not think bannon was racist, but instead thought he was a decent guy. Nevada senator harry reid has called bannon a champion of White Supremacists and the Southern Poverty Law Center has called breitbart media, which he headed, a white ethnonationalist propaganda mill. Trump also attempted to distance himself from White Supremacists, who have celebrated his victory, including during a white supremacisist conference over the weekend in which participants used the nazi salute and quoted nazi prpropaganda in the original germanan. Meanwhile, c cnn is under fire over a segment on whitee supremacisist Richard Spencer, in which the lower third on cnns screreen read altright founder questions if jews are people. Spencer has said he has a psychic connection with donald trump. After widespread backlash, prompting cnn to call the caption poor judgment. A member of Donald Trumps transition team, kansas secretary of state kris kobach, has accidentally revealed his proposed Strategic Plan for the dedepartment of homeland securirity, which includes an ideological extreme vetting test for immigrants seeng toto enter t uniteted states and reinstating a regigistry for immigrants from majoritymuslim countries. Kobach was photographed carrying documents outlining g this Strategic Plan into a m meeting with donald trump on sunday. Following 9 11, kobach himself helped design the registry for immigrants from majoritymuslim countries, known as the National Security entryexit registration system, or nseers. Under the program, more than 10,000 people were deported and more than 80,000 people were spied on. The department of Homeland Security abandoned the program in 2011 after deeming itneffectitive. Nearly 200 organizations are now calling on the Obama Administration to rescind the legegal framewok fofor the registry before obama leaeaves office, so trumpmps admiministration cannot reinstatate it. New yorkrk city is spinning more than n one lane dollars a day to protect donald trump and his family at trump towers where the new York Police Department has set up barricades and patrols amid frequent protests. City officiaials say these coststs will continue, even after trumps nitration as his wife melania and their son barron are expected to continue living in trump tower. In wisconsin, a court has ruled legislature engaged in a constitutional gerrymandering to favor the republican paparty when it t redrew the statate assembmbly distrtricts in 201. The case is likely to go to the supreme court. Baggage handlers at Chicagos Ohare International airport have announced plans to go on strike next tuesday, changing their original plan of striking on thanksgiving. The move avoids a strike at one of the worlds busiest airports on one of the years busiest travel days. The Service Employees International Union is backing the workers who want to raise their wages to 15 an hour. This comes as germanys main airline, lufthansa, cancelled nearly 900 flights today after pilots went on strike to demand a pay raise. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of fastfood workers, home c ca, and chchildcare workers in 340 citities will join the chicago airport workers on tuesday for what theyre calling a national day of disruption. The protest marks the fourth anniversary of the movement to raise wages known as the fightfor15. Hundreds more across t the u. S. Are planning protests on fririd, the day after thanksgiving, which is considered a major shopping day in the United States. In chicago, activist are plannnning a a black friday boycott onon michigagan aven to demand police accountability. Water protectors fighting the Dakota Access pipeline in north dakota have also declared a global day of action on friday, calling for protests at banks financing the pipeline and the offffices of sheriffs dedepartments who have sent deputies to police the ongoing resistance, which is led by the Standing Rock sioux tribe in north dakota. In news from iraq, the United Nations says as many as 68,000 civilians have been displaced from mosul amid the ongoing fight by Iraqi Security foforces backed by the u. S. Special operations soldiers and u. S. Airstrikes. The u. N. Says half of those displaced so far are children, and warns that hundreds of thousands more may be displaced in the coming weeks. This is abu alabed. We fled from the aden neighborhood on footot in the ay transported d is by trucuck and d brought usus year. Thank god. Ththe situtuation is good. Clashes s are stilill going o, but the army will prevail, god willining. Nermeen in yemen, at least 19 people have died in fightingg on the outskirts of taiz, as a 48hour ceasefire expired. The ceasefire never completely halted u. S. Backed saudiled airstrikes, nor offensives by the houthi rebels. Britains high court began hearining a lawsuiuit tuesday filed by more than 40,000 nigerians demanding Oil Giant Shell clean up spills that have contaminated water with cancercausing chemicals, including benzene. The lawsuit was launched by the ogale and bille people, who allege shell has poisoned their water during decades of drilling in the niger river delta. In peru, authorities have declared a state of emergency in seven districts in the north amid raging wildfires. Scscientists say the f fires are fueled by less rainfall due to climate change. The fires are threatening indigenous land and crops in thehe peruvian amazon. This is peruvian prime minister. In the first place, because of the magnitude of the fires reached, the government has declared a state of emergency in the zones affected by the greatest intensity at risk. This will permit the National Government to continue mobilizing people, resources, and diverse agreement in order to confront these fires and attend to the population that has been affected. Nermrmeen pakistan says indiaian armymy shliling into kashmir has killed at least nine civilians and injured nine more after an artillery shell hit a bus wednesday. The pakistani Officials Say the indian army also attacked the ambulance that arrived on site. Fighting between pakistan and india in the disputed kashmir region has been escalating for months. Anand in ohio, a prososecutor says he will reretry white foformer universityy of cincinnatati Police Officer ray tensnsing for murdering 43yyearold d samuel d dubose. Officer tensing shot dubose in the head after pulling him over for having a missing front license plate in 2015. Tensing was wearing a tshirt emblazoned with a confederate battle flag under his uniform when he fatally shot dubose. A judge declared a mistrial in his case earlier this month after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. And those are some of the h headlines. Ththis is democracy now , democracacynow. Org, the e war anpeace reportrt. Im Nermeen Shaikh. Amy goodman is on assignment and will return on monday. We begin today in syria, where the United Nations is warning nearly 1 million syrians are living under siege, double the number lalast year. The vavast majority, 850,00000 people, are being blockaded by the Syrian Government. On monday, the u. N. Human Rights Agency said civilians trapped in eastern aleppo, where the last hospitals have been destroyed by Syrian Government bombing, are facing annihilation. On tuesday, the u. N. Spokesperson Rupert Colville said the attacks on hospitatals, if proven deliberate and as part of a systematic pattern, could amount to war crimes. The situation in eastern aleppo is really so her rent is, i mean, it is beyond words. I think we are struggling to say a anything g new aboutt he cut it is so unremittingly awful, despite the occasional let ups, overall, it is horrendous. The factories hospitals and clinics are continuously hit is a matter of very, very grave concern. Nermeen the wororld Health Organization says the Syrian Governments intense Bombing Campaign against eastern aleppo has damaged and shut down the areas only remaining hospitals, leaving 250,000 people trapped without access to medical care. Doctors warn the damaged hospitalals may not be able to reopen. This comes as Syrian Government forces have surrounded eastern aleppo, which is rapidly running out of food, fuel and water. Meanwhile, on sunday, the Syrian Government said it had rejected a proposal by the u. N. Special envoy for syria, which called for eastern aleppo to be granted autonomy if jihadist fighters linked to alqaeda withdrew and the fighting stopped. Well, for more, were joined by two gueuests. In chicago, drdr. Zaher sahloul isis founder of ththe American Relief coalition for syria and Senior Advisor and former president of the Syrian American medical society. He has visited aleppo fiveve tis since the wawar began. He was a classmate of Bashar Al Assad in medical school. And in washington, d. C. , Bassam Haddad is dirirector of the middle e east and isislamic studies prprogrm at george mason university. He is cofounder of jadaliyya and director of the arab studies institute. He wrote a piece for the nation last month headlined, the debate over syria has reached a dead end. Hes also the author of Business Networks in syria the political economy of authoritarian resilience. Welcome both of you back to democracy now dr. Sahloul, i would like to begin with you, to go over what we said in our introduction, namely, the state of hospitals in easternrn aleppo. According to the world Health Organization, there are no functioning hospitals left in eastern aleppo. You were last on the show in august when you said the situation in aleppo was 10 times worse than hell. Could you tell is what you know of the situation in east aleppo today and in particular, the state of medical facilities . It is even worse than last time. Words at this point do not mean anything. The use of catastrophic or beyond description does not mean anything because were talking about a city that has 300,000 people, among them 100,000 children, who are trapped with no food oror medical for the pastouour mohs. Everyone i is watching with i indifference. Were talking about all hospitals in aleppo right now that have catastrophes of bombings that are destroyed, including the hospital that i was in with my colleagues. Itit was a hospital undergrgrod for protection for the doctors and nurses and it was comompletely destroy. That h hospital useded to perfm 4000 lifesaving surgeries every year. Two days, two more hospitals were destroyed, which are the largest hospitals that are doing taking, patients. Every day there are e massacre. Right now the space for treating these patients is shrinking. Pain medicine, antibodies, sutures, and a shortage of doctors. Every 17 hours right now, in aleppo, ththere is a targeting of healtlth care facilities. Everery 60 hours, theres a targeting and killing of a healthcare worker. In the last 144 days, there were 143 attacks on Health Care Facilities in syria committed by the Syrian Government and its ally, mostly russia, and one third of them have it in aleppo. Right now to be a medical worker in syria is the most dangerous job on earth. Those who want to continue to save lives, but they need to be prototecte. Nermeeeen dr. R. Sahloul, did you u y where people arere going now . You are in touch with medical personnel in a aleppo. Wherere are people goioing now toeek memedical trtreatment . There are still small medical facilities that are open and treating patients. They are semidestroyed or partially destroyed. There are some basements of buildings that arere doctorsre treatingng their patients. When i was in aleppo, i visited seven medical facilities. These are hospitals in aleppo before the crisis. A few of them are very small and they do not have the capacacity to treat the victims of trtraua or v vicmsms ofof chemical weaponons as w we were seeing in the last few days. In spite of that, theyey are opening some of their spaces that are not destroyed to keep accommodating the patients. Healthth care is one essential part that keeps a city going. If you destroy every facility were medical facility, that means youre destroying the neighborhoods, destroying the city. That is why it is crucial to keep anything that will keep providing medical care to the civilians in the city of aleppo. Nermeen i wouldld like to brig in professor Bassam Haddad, director of the middle east and Islamic Studies Program at george masoson university. He is cofounder of jadaliyya. Professor, on the site that you cofounded, you and your colleagues have been developing documenting to violence in aleppo. You point out that in addition to the carnage in east aleppo, there have been repeated attacks on the government controlled side of aleppo, west aleppo. What do you know of the scale of these attacks and who is carrying them out . Thank you. Well, clearly, there has been a slamming of western aleppo by the rebels. The issue here or the point here is these, of course, pale in comparison toto the brutal bombardmentt of eastern aleleppo in the almost tototal destruction n of life. E. The issue is not necessarily want to create any kind of parity, but it reveals a lack of reporting about that k kind of directitn of shelling into western aleppo. The more significant point, as my copanelist, if you will, has just shared, is that whwhat we are witnessing in aleppo today especially in east aleppo, is nothing short of a slaughter. That is, unfortunately, when i was here three weeks ago on the show, i had discussedd that we had not seseen then anything yet compared to what is likely to happen and i fefear this wiwill conti. This viciousnessss will contine until the reregime in russia take over eaststern aleppo because it is s considered a necessary step to prop up their position in anyny future negotiation before, during, or after the takeover or the trump admdministration comes into effect. That is s what needs to happen in order fofor aleppo to fall. The rebels will not give up and the russians will go to any length to not just take over, but the idea here is to destroy life in itself. We see that with the targeting of hospitals that cannot be bubut deliberate in the situation. Nermeen professor, coululd you say a littlele moe about what you expect will happen n given the regime and other parties involved . What do you think will happen inin eastern aleppo . I i mean, as my colleagues said, we are all at a loss for words. There is that ththing that can describe what actually might happen if this onslaught continues. A strategic level, the Syrian Regime and the russians will not stop until it seems they will not stop until eastern aleppo is within their control. There are overlapping interests. It is also important to recognize that there might be a risk after that point because the degree to which they both want to conquer all of aleppo is very similar. But t in any future procesess, it seems like russia is much more interested in focusing on stability and some sort of control of the situation in syria, where is the regime is most interested in reconquering the entirety of syria and establishing itself and certainly its survival. That might actually open the door for some negotiation. But i fear if this is the case, if the entirety of aleppo is captured, it will leave any scenario very little room for negotiation at a time when no international power, certainly the u. S. , neither have the will or the interest in doing very much to stop this. So there is the theater that people are asking the United States to intervene and to do more, but in r realit, neither is there a will nor is there any kind of a desire to stop this process. And it seems there is a consensus, not just against the revolution as people say people are always concerned about the revolution but there is a consensus against the wellbeing of syria and syrians, with or without the revolution or the regime for purposes that are mostly geopolitical. Because as we know, before 2011, all of the parties that supposedly today are trying to defend syriaia or fight for syria or help the revoluon in syria were supporting the regime of syria. Nermeen before we talk about the role of the u. S. In syria, i wowould like to askk dr. Sahlhloul abouout comment that some have made the groups like al nusra another extreme Islamist Groups operating in east aleppo are keeping people hostage and using them as human shields in east aleppo. There have been reports that people in east aleppo fear leaving for the western part of the city because they are likely to be detained there as terrorists. Dr. Sahloul, could you comment on that and what you know of the situation of people attempting to flee east aleppo . When i was in aleppo just before the siege, i was there with two physicians from chicago. We frankly did not see al nusra. We visited all hospitals in aleppo. It is dangerous for me as an american doctor to be in a situation where you have an encounter with these terrorists. But we have not seen any signs s for them, at least in the neighborhoods of the hospitals we visited. There might be a few fighters of al nusra in and around aleppo, but that is not what is keepingng people lets not foforget that the populatition of eaeastern ao wawas 1. 5 million before the crisis. Right now it is 300,000. 0. That meaeans 1. 2 milillion are already rerefugees oror displaced in turkey thehe rest of s syria. The 300,000 peopople are t the becaususe theyveve no other ple e to go. Eveven if they wantetoto go, where would they go . Turkeyey has sealed the boborder completely. Any other place in syriaia is dangegerous because the russians and the syrians have been bombing nearby. They c cannot gogo to govevernnt contrtrolled areaes because they c can be tortured and detaiained. Of c course, that happens frequenently, previously in other places put under r siege. If they are let go, that iss calllled ethnic cleansnsing forced evacucuation, acaccording to the u united nat. It has hapappened elelsewhere. E. Right nonow we a are witnessig what is bebecoming the next ethnic cleansing or forced evacuation and area. There might be some terrorisist group around aleppo, but that is not what isis given the people in. What is keeping the pepeople i, thatat no other place to go and theyre a also trapped. D. They cannot go to anany placee that is dave. Nermeen professor, to return to the point that you raised about u. S. Involvement in syria, i would like t to quote from an interview with syrian dissidene. You pointed out the u. S. Has been supporting rebel groups in syria, as they have, but he says in his interview with the intercept in many important ways, the americans have been supporting Bashar Alassad. The United States helped create a situation in which syria would bebe plunged into chchas but the regime would remain in power. Could you respond to that and give us a sense of what u. S. Policy, visavis, syria, has been from the start of the uprising in 2011 to the present day . At first i respect the perseverance of the d dissident that was imprisoned by the syrian regigime is suffefered the structural brutatality for 16 years by the syryrian regime. I supppport the idea that the u u. S. Intervention has been anything but positive from the very beginning. As i said earlier, this has been, in my view, quite obvious. It is that i also wish, based on the q quote ththat you gave me, i wish he had ththought about ts or provided it as advised early on to the revolulutionariess when they were tripping over thehemselves here down the street and washington, d. C. , cozying up to the u. S. Policy makers and trying to moveve thingss in a particular direction. Whwhen in reality, this wass basicalllly a moot point, considering exactly what yassim is saying right now. And my view, that is not a controversial point and the idea here is to move the on this call for u. S. Intervention and think about whwhat is the real interest of syrians. Because evererybody is bassingg the intereststs of syrians. As a result of this kind of support by the people likeke yassim for a more critical view, we are beginning to see a rift, if you will, between think tank analyststs within the u. S. , supportive of a transitional establishment approach that seeks to secure first and foremost the e security o of israel were beginning to see a rift between this group of supporters of a Syrian Revolution and many syrians who support the syrian uprising and revolution, whereby the former group is much more interested in the outcomes of the revolution in relation to irans domination of the regionn or control and israels security. Whereas, the revolutionaries are much more interested in the wellbeing of syrians. And this rift actually can be viewed by looking at how think tank a analysts today are scrambling to oppose a trump policy on the basis of not the syrian people, not ththe health of the syrian uprising, bubut on how it might produce positive effects that trumps policy might produce positive effects for iran, syria, and their allies, including hezbollah and how it would threaten israel. This line of argument reveals from what has been a concern and the worry from the beginning of that kind of trajectory. That is what we are witnessing today and that quote is apt. A risk that should have existed from the very beginning for the sake of living a healthier the independent, a democratic uprising in syria against the territororial resue regime. Nermrmeen dr. Sahloul, bashar alasassad commented for the first time on trumps electoral victory last week, calling him a natural ally of his regime. Could you, quickly, tell us what you expect from a Trump Presidency, visavis, syria . Before that, we are calling for a day of solidarity with the doctors and nurses in syria on friday. Where evereryone should d put e neveragaisnsnow. This is sosomething thatatimpoportan because committingng war crimes against t doctors and nurses should be recognized by everyone. E. It should not be normalized. Trump said he will be supporting president Bashar Alassad what kept people in syria hopefeful ofof the future is the fact ththere would be one day that they would have the same liberties and freedom that we have and enjoy this country. If trump will be supportive of assad and assad will control the rest of the syria and he will declare victory and continue to be a president for the next 14 years, as he has promised, then that will really be the last nail in the coffin of the aspiration of the people of syria who rose up in the beginning of this five years ago for freedoms and liberties that we enjoy and all support. Nermeen i want to thank you both for joining us, dr. Sahloul, fofounder of thehe american rerelease coalition for syria and Senior Advisor and former president of the Syrian American medical society. He has visited aleppo five times since the war began. He was a classmate of bashar alal assad. Bassam haddadad is director of the middle east and Islamic Studies Program. Thank you for joining us. He is associate professor at george mason university, cofounder of jadaliyya. He is director of the arab studies institute. He wrote a piece for the nation last month headlined, the debate over syria has reacached a dead end. When we come back, we turn to trumps policies that are cononcerned people are concerned about, making w White Supremacy respectable again. That is ththe name of an artice by katherine franke, who will be joining us in the next segment. Stay with us.  [music break] nermeen what returned nomads by khebez dawle. President elect donald trump met with journalists and editors at the New York Times tuesdy for a wideranging conveversatin that covered the elelection Hillary Clinton, climate change, and Foreign Policy. One questione focused on the one question focused on the growing movement in the United States that calls itself the altright. Critics say the group was energized by trumps win. When asked about the movement, trump answered i dont want to energize the group. Im not looking to energize them. I dont want to energize the group, and i disavow the group. What we do want to do is we want to bring the country together, because the country is very, very divided. And im going to work very hard to bring the country together. Concerns about the socalled altright were heightened after a conference that took place over the weekend in washington, d. C. , where hundreds gatherere to celebrate Donald Trumps victory. And some attendees raised their arms in the traditional nazi salute as leader Richard Spencer spoke. America was, until this past generation, a white country designed fofor ourselveves and our poposterity. It is our creation, it is our inheritance, and d it belongsgs to us. Nermeen leaders of the altright movement have been emboldened since trump named steve bannon to become his chchief strategit after first being his campaignanager. Bannon is the former head of the rightwing news outlet, breitbart media. For more, were joioined byby katheririne franke, director of e center for gegender and sexuality law at columbia university. Her recent piece for the los angeles review of books is headlined making White Supremacy respectable. Again. Welcome back to democracy now , katherine franke. Cocould you tell uss about this piece . You wrote e it in respsponse to an article by a colleague. Tell us about the arguments he articulated in his pipiece. Thank you for having me on the show and for engaging this piece. The arguments made in the New York Times are not new. They resonate from the late 1990s for the likes of michael tomaske, who really felt, enough already, being bothered by special interest, whether that was women, people of color, gay and lesbian people stop lets get back to what made ameririca great, whicich was liberal democracy that our Founding Fathers had in mind. And this attention to racism, sexism, homophobia is really a distraction and d it kind of surrendered itself to selfindulgence that is counterproductive. For my colleague to issue this kind of oped in the neNew York Times, at this time, it struck me as enormouslsly insensitiv both to the political situation we are in now or Donald Trumps election signals the invitation of a k kind of new White Supremacy inin this country,y, but even more than that, or parallel to that, what i is going on at columbia. I amam worried a about this as he issues this oped in the same week that a number of young men on our wrestling team at columbia were chastised and d discharged from t the team for issuing g the most ugly, sexist, racicist, homophobic tweets among themselves. So there is ugly hatred going on on our campus. Ugly hatred going on in this country. Lela is collaborating and rendering thatat hatred d respectable ag. Nermeen n i want to ask about a specific point he m makes in the artiticle which isis, during her campaign, Hillary Clinton explicitly referred to africanamerican, latino, lgbt, and women voters. But in so doing, he writes, a large percentage of the american electorate excluded and according to him, this accounts in part for her defeat since white workingclass and evangelical voters voted almost across the board for trump. Do you agree with that assessment . I do. As my wise friend Suzanne Hoover said to me yesterday after she read the piece, and away what were seeing is a kind of seductive argument to wellintentioned liberals who are tired of feeling comfortable. They have a a kind ofof identity fatigue. Theyre tired of being calllled out for their privileg. Letts s get back to the e ks of forms of govevernance we are comfortable with. And those are the forms of governance ththat are whitetelead and in the i interest of white people as the neutral norm. Nermeen lets turn to president elect trump. Your response to the fact that yesterday to the New York Times, you that h he disavows the altright movement and steve bannon is not a part of it. What you think, first of all, didid he say that . Because that is not exactly what he said in the past. Do you think it indicates a shift away from trumps association from White Supremacy . I guess we will see. I dont have any faith from watching this man on a National Political stage that any of this he feels deeply in his heart anand will remain consistent in repudiating white supremacacists. He is baking them into his administration with a kind d of a poignancy isakaking of rightwing suppoporters of White Supremacy and or appointing people with absolutely no experience or expertise to things like the u. S. Representative to the u. N. Or ben carson at hud, who knows absolutely nothing about housing. I guess i could do brain surgery, but very badly. Just as dr. Carson could run hud, but shirley, quite badly. Nermeen what about mike pence, the speculation that he may be the most powerful Vice President in history in the United States . He actually knows something about how Government Works on the state of federal level. It is a low bar, but he passes it. If we can understand donald trump as a robber baron who uses crony capititalism to undermine democracy, what we e see in mike e pence is the victory of evangelical christianity as a way to overcome underlying longterm commitment to democracy and pluralism, value pluralism in this country. What i think we certainly sawaw with governor pence in indiana and i think what we will see with Vice President pence in washingngton is the return to religious liberty as a kind d of Delivery System for r White Christian nationali. Nermeen i want to thank you for being with us, katherine franke, director of the center for gender and sexuality law at columbia university. I want to turn to obamas early state and the authorization of military force and how it could be expanded under President Trump. During his meeting tuesday with New York Times, he ansnswered questionons on Foreign Policy. Y. When asked about his position on torture, trump referenced a meeting he had with retired marine corps general james mattis, considered a top pick for trump secretary of defense. Trump stated general mattis is a strong, highly dignified man. I met with him at length and i asked him that question. I said, what do you think of waterboarding . He said i was surprised he said, ive never found it to be useful. he said, ive always found, give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and i do better with that than i do with torture. and trump says, i was very impressed by that answer. Well, for more on trumps Foreign Policy positions, were joined now by hina shamsi, directoror of the american civil liliberties unions National Security project. Hina shamsi, can you tell us some of your concerns about what a Trump Presidency will mean for questions having to do, for instance, with the proposed plan for a Muslim Registry although, he has gone back and forth on that and it is an clear what precicise he means by it nowow and what the origins particular of this Muslim Registry system are when the system was first put in place and what you think is the likelihood that trump will be able to implement it . Of course. So much to discuss. Thank you for having me again. One of the latest controversies that has come out let me s start off by sasaying i think k it is very hard to know what the things are that candidate trump proposed which are deeply troubling and unconstitutional. We he e analyzeded many of t these proposasals and are poised to challenge them should they be put in place. But lelets s take thihis regi. What it is, what you referred to eararlier in the segment as the nseers program. It was put in place after 9 11 and it was a program that was aimed at nonimmigrant males and rerequired them men from 25 countries, mostly majority muslslim countries, and required them to come in for fingerprinting and interrogation. It resulted in devastatatio. Proximally 13,000 people were cited for deportation. Families were torn apart. Small businesses were deeply, negatively impacted. The impacts continue in communities today. Now the program is discontinued in april 202011. It never notably resulted in any kindd of criminal prosececution for terrorism, for example. The department of Homeland Security discontinued it and said they were going to focus instead on targeting actual wrongdoing instead d of these kinds of registrations a and suites sweeps. Recently, it appears this program is under consideration again. This is one of the things that candidate trump talked about, that his advisers have talked about. Despite the fact the program was stopped, there isis a concern, a deep concern, one that is roiling cocommunitis around t the country, that it could d be reinstated. So there is one very important thing the e obama administratition can do in n e aclu, over 200 orgrganizations, collects around the country have asked for this, which is dismantlele the regulalatory framework that still exists for nseers and isis stillll in place and make clear that is s serves lilittle to no purpose so that this p pgram will be harder to reieinstate again if the new admdministration is hllbent on dodoing it. Nermeen i want to thank you for joining us, hina shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties unions National Security project. When we come back, we turn to northth dakota and we will be joined by two guests there. Please, stay with us.  [music break] nermeen in the river a protest song by r raye zaragoza. I am Nermeen Shaikh filling in for amy goodman. She is on assignment and will be back on monday. Sophia wilansky has been undergoing a series of surgeries after reportedly being hit by a concussion grenade during the Police Attack against water protectors fighting the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline in n north dakotota sunday nht. The stananding rock medic and healer councncil says 300 people were e hurt in the a attack with injuriess including g hypothermimia from bngng sprayed by Water Cannons in subfreezing temperatures, seizures, loss of consciousness, and impaired vision as a result of b being shot by a rubber bullet in theacace. On sunday night, Sophia Wilansky was airlifted to hosospital after susuffering a critical injnjury to her left ararm. Photos show partrts of her left arm nearly blown a away with her musclcle and bonene exposed. A wawarning o our tv audidien, these photos are graphic. This is ararmy veter brarady king of the four belknap reservation who helped transport sophia afafter she was injured. D. King sererved in the u. S. Army. I cant even explain to you becacause you dont rereally i guess you dont expect those kikinds of wounds happeneg when theyre not in combat. It felt like a combat wound. It looked like it was a combat wound. She had shrapnel wounds. She did not have burns. Her arm was split open. Her skin her flesh was ripped off of her arm. Her bones were broken. Nermeen the Morton County Sheriffs Department is claiming the police are not responsible for injuryy and that concussion grenades were not used duringng the Police Attack. For morere we are joined by sophias father waynyne wilansky. Thank you for joining us on democracy now could you tell us, first off, how your daughter sophiaia is now . She is resting. She had a second surgery yesterday so they could try to clean out the open wound. She still has an opening from her elbow to her wrist. There is no flesh there. She is resting comfortably. She will have a third surgery on friday. Nermeen what about your response to the claims made by the Morton County Sheriffs Department that they were not the e police were nonot response for the concussion g grenade . Yeah, they are ridiculous. Apparently, they have changed their story three times since the incident occurred. My daughter is very clear about the fact she was being shot at the titim. She has got Bullet Wounds on her body and she was backing away at the time and trtrying to reach for r a shield sthe e bullets would not hit her at the time the concussion grenade hit her in the arm and exploded. Witnesses that i have spoken to said that the Police Officers it takes seven seconds for these concussion grenades go off. Instead of throwing them on the ground, they pulled the plug, held thm for five seconds, and through them directly at her. I would say the comments from the Morton County Sheriffs Department are ridiculous and not worthy of a shred of belief. Nermeen the doctors also found shrapnel in her wound . Yes, her treating vascular surgeon told me afteter the surgery y that he pd as mucuch out as he e thought he could, and d the second day was s to clean it out and make sure they did not leave anything in there. You have to get all of the debriris outt oror the tissue will get infeced and the whole arm will die anyway. Yes, he pulled all of the shrapnel out. It went to the pathology so it is in ththe hospital records. Nermeen i want to ask about the fbi agents who visited your hospital room yesterday. At least one of the fbi agents was wearing a jacket from the joint Terrorism Task force. Democracy now reached out to the fbi tuesday but the agency refused to comment. Can you explain what the fbi agents were doing at the hospital yesterday . Honestly, it was an i intruse and a very hard time. Sophia was waititing to g go to sururgery. Basically, keeping us prisoner inside her hospital room, waiting for a warrant, which never came. They did not tell us what they were therefore for many hours. Eventually, i got to speak to a supervisor and learned what tyre looking for was her clothing. I did eventually consent. I had taken her clothing back to my hotel room the night befofore and i did consesent to give them the clothing eventually after talking to the supervisors. I have an unwritten agreement, but i put it in writing anywywa, that they will give me access to those materials soso i can test them a as well and it w will prerveve anand not t destroy that evidee because i would d want to o set and hahave it foforensically tested myself. Nermeen quickly before we conclude, what is it you are demanding now . Well, what im demanding is, number one, they clear that bridge because it took many, many hours to get sophia airlifted out ofof there and there are peoplele th arere gng to o die there. They need d to clear that bride so peoeople can get to hospipit. They need to have president obama has to step in and stop thisis. Theyre drilling now come even know they do not have a permit. The army corps of engineers has asked them to stop. The army cororps of engineers has said they were not going to issue a department until after they did further environmental studieies and okoke with t the tribe, yet t they set the rules in plae and continue andnd are probobably drillining underneh the river as we speak. K. As a very dangerous situation and that is just they never won. Number two, they have to demilitarize ththe police. Theres no reason the police should be intentionally trying to kill people, maim people, and us has to stop. Nenermeen thank you for jojoining us from minneapop, when wolinsky, the father of 21yearold activist Sophia Wilansky. As much of the u. S. Prepareses to mark thanksgiviving this weekend,d, many nativamerericans wiwill gather in plymouth to commemorate the 47th national dayay of mourning. This year is dedicated to water protectors at Standing Rock and are the struggle for recognition of Indigenous Peoples day. To discuss this and more, were joined in San Francisco by indigenous historian and actistst roxannene dunbaroortiz. She is the author of an Indigenous Peoples history of the United States. And coauthor of all the real indians died off. And 20 other myths about native americans. Welcome back to democracy now , roxanne. Could you tell us, as the nation prepares to observe thanksgiving, a National Holiday ostensiblbly to honor native american people, what are your thoughts . Thank you for having me on the show. Actually, it has never been about honoring native americans. It has been about the origin story of the United States, the beginning of genocide, dispossession, constant warfare from that time actually, from 1607 in jamestown, until the present. It is a colonial system that was set up. There is a sort of annual calendar for this origin story, beginning with columbus october 12. Why celebrate columbus . It was the onset of colonialism, the slave trade, and dispossession of the native people. It is celebrated as a federal holiday. That is followed by thanksgiving which is a completely made up story to say the native people welcomed these people who were going to devastate their civilization, which is simply a lie. Then you go to president day, the founding father february come and celebrate these slaveowners, ending colors, George Washington head of the virginia militia, for the very purpose of killing native people on the periphery of the colony. Before, you know, when it was still virginia colony. Then we have the big day, the fireworks, july 4, independence which is probably the most tragic event in World History because it gave us he gave the world a genocidal regime under the guise of democracy. Im a historian, so that is a this local context that i think we have to see thanksgiving end, that it is a part of that mythology that attempts to cover up the real history of the United States. When it was introduced as a holiday by Abraham Lincoln during the civil war, there was no mention of pilgrims and native people or food or pumpkins or anything like that. It was simply a day for families to be together and mourn their dead and be grateful for the living. I think that is inappropriate holiday that how people should enjoy it. They should take native americans and puritans out of the picture for it to be a legitimate holiday for feast and sharing with family and friends. So that is, you know, the people of plymouth, i send greetings to them. They have, for many years, i think honest 40 years now, almost 40 years now, have stood up and testified to the lie of plymouth rock, the mayflower, the pilgrims. This is very hard for people to give up. This is nationalism. It is americanism. It is White Supremacy. It represents negative things. There is a must no way directed almost no way to reconcile it. It am us has to be deconstructed and faced up to, otherwise, there will be no social change that is meaningful for anyone. Nermeen roxanne dunbarortiz, thank you for joining us indigenous historian and, activist. That does it for todays show. Tune in tomorrow for our stananding rock specia. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them t to demomocracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible elaine startling numbers about violence against women in mexico. Whats being done to end the abuse . Im elaine reyes in washington, d. C. And this is americas now. First up. Spousal abuse has left millions of mexican women single with children, and many have to move in with relelatives. Laws are in place to end domestic violence, but are rarely enforced. Woman i t think the idea is go. Its the execioion of it, whether it really hahappens or not, and thahat women can finaly look at this as a place where they can come and find help