Asked with top military leaders over the abrupt pullout from Syria and over the firing and the handling of the firing of a Navy Seal Trump intervened in a military justice procedure and not all of the military brass was happy about that during his trip Trump also said talks with the Taliban are again under way after he ended those talks 2 months ago security forces have killed at least $27.00 protesters in Iraq amid going anti-government demonstrations as N.P.R.'s Jane Arraf reports the worst violence was in the south where police fired live bullets and tear gas canisters in an attempt to break up a crowd in the city of Nasiriyah at least 20 protesters were killed when security forces fired on them to drive them from a bridge in the protesters burned down the Iranian consulate Wednesday night and prevented firefighters from putting out the blaze around said those who started the fire were not genuine protesters and called for an effective response from the Iraqi government and Iran backed militia that is now part of Iraqi security forces responded by Sunday armored vehicles and fighters to measure it said to protect the senior Shia religious scholars the protesters are demanding the fall of what they consider to be a deeply corrupt Iraqi government under the thumb of Iran chain around n.p.r. News NATO chief Gen Stoltenberg met with French President Emmanuel McCrone in Paris today as N.P.R.'s Eleanor Beardsley reports Micron's recent criticism that NATO is quote brain dead was on the agenda the French president's comments in The Economist magazine drew sharp criticism from allies who warned against undermining the transatlantic alliance macron justified his remark by pointing to America's sudden and unilateral pullout from northern Syria and NATO member Turkey's intervention against Western backed Kurds fighting terror as speaking here through an interpreter said his damning assessment of NATO had been a useful wake up call does need to organize itself against was risky it was a common. As you can see it is a question that is of strategic options seditionist is it Russia that NATO will market 70th anniversary next week at commemorations in London Eleanor Beardsley n.p.r. News Paris Buffalo Bills receiver John Brown became the 1st receiver in Buffalo history to throw a touchdown pass as the bills blew past the Dallas Cowboys today 26 to 15 quarterback Josh Allen also set a franchise record by producing at least 2 touchdowns in 8 consecutive games the Detroit Lions Meanwhile lost to the Chicago Bears 24 to 20 this is n.p.r. . New polling shows Britain's Conservative Party with a substantial lead just 2 weeks before parliamentary elections so now opposition parties have intensified their attacks on Prime Minister Boris Johnson the party's leader show Swenson leads the opposition Liberal Democrats she calls Johnson a liar and says he's dragged the office of Prime Minister through the mud Britain's will vote on December 12th to fill all 650 House of Commons seats. As many Americans celebrate Thanksgiving today Native Americans often take another view he was a coffer member station has more the United American Indians of New England will host the 50th annual day of mourning in Plymouth Massachusetts today it's a time for native people and their supporters to commemorate the Native Americans killed and land stolen by European colonisers Cedric Cromwell chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe says the Thanksgiving holiday evokes pain but want people want to remind everyone they're still here it becomes a national day of mourning for us because we will remember we were hurt killed slot of destroyed lands taken away from us but we still are those loving peace 1st people organizers of the event say they'll deliver a united message no thanks no giving for n.p.r. News I'm eaves a coffee in Woods Hole Massachusetts holiday travelers are getting a bit of a respite today as the Wild Wednesday weather subsided in most areas in time for Thanksgiving activities High winds ripped a wooden sign from scaffolding on Chicago's Willis Tower yesterday and nearly knocked over the Christmas tree in Cleveland's public square I'm deal Willman n.p.r. News in Washington support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include the Alfred p. Sloan Foundation bridging science and the arts by supporting science themed musicals such as Einstein's Dreams running through December 14th at $5959.00 theaters more at Sloan dot org. Next time on Ask Me Another we're in Nashville with country music legends. And they play a game identifying members of the Grand Ole Opry. To join. The answer to Life funny or question Saturday between 11 am and 12 noon on. I'm Marco Werman this is the world good to have you with us today this Thanksgiving the holiday spirit moved President Trump to pay a surprise visit to u.s. Troops in Afghanistan there's no where I'd rather celebrate this Thanksgiving dinner right here with the toughest strongest best and bravest warriors on the face of the earth you are indeed that the president arrived in a darkened airplane and carried out a presidential tradition feeding turkey and mashed potatoes to American troops it was Trump's 1st visit to Afghanistan as president he said he'd restart peace negotiations with the Taliban but comes 3 months after he canceled talks with them the Taliban wants to make a deal we'll see if they want to make a deal it's going to be a real deal but we'll see but they want to make a deal and they only want to make a deal because you're doing a great job the chillers they want to make a deal so I want to thank you and I want to thank the Afghan soldiers for really broke into a lot of you today and you say they're really fighting hard I was very impressed with that actually so I want to thank you Trump said the u.s. Would stay until there is a deal or total victory he also said he'd like to reduce the number of American troops Trump also met with Afghanistan's president Gunny today in an unusual move Gunny joint Tromp onstage with u.s. Troops at Bagram Air Base Gunny praised Trump as the architect of a strategy for wiping out al Qaeda in Afghanistan there are people also full of thanks in a Hong Kong today although it looks more like the 4th of July throngs of protesters waving American flags others singing The Star-Spangled Banner. The demonstrators are offering thanks to President Trump for signing a bill that backs Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters Nathan was a key figure in that democracy movement and 2016 he was elected to Hong Kong's legislature but was later expelled from the parliament under pressure from Beijing he's now studying at Yale University we talked about the videos posted. On one of the celebrations in the streets of Hong Kong last night people were gathering in the huddle can call one dress and dance and so people holding up cellphone lights and cheering for victory I'm also seeing a lot of flags there are British flags of course a lot of American flags and there's somebody with a statue of liberty hat with like little belly deal it's pretty amazing what does it tell us about the connections between Hong Kong and the United States do you think this is a leaderless movement so people express their opinion freely inside. Some a hole like American flags on the whole u.k. Black people feel like they need to thank the countries that have been helping. Them so helpful and looking at one flag that has a picture of a tank that says Trump on it and trump a standing with an assault rifle on top of the tank very proudly and the whole assembly is not meant to make it translate into the hero of Hong Kong but a way that people expressed their gratitude to President troubles of signed a bill banning the export of tear gas rubber bullets and stun guns to the police in Hong Kong do you think that's significant or mostly symbolic. The police now they have been firing tear gas made in China which is more dangerous to themselves and more uncertain about what it contains So I think the ban actually release a message that according to international standards does not agree on how the government or the police have been using these crowd control weapons and I hope that even in Europe the other countries who are selling weapons to the police force could follow that path at the same time Washington is trying to negotiate this trade deal with China and I'm wondering if you're concerned that a successful trade deal could reframe Hong Kong for Washington as a secondary concern to good economic ties with the Chinese mainland the trade deal is just out of the picture that the most important thing to see how we could restrain the expansion of the off the terrorism and how we could stop China abusing the power they have in order to suppress people so I think regardless of how the trade deal has been doing I think we need to upload these principles. Does the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong think it can trust Washington because President Trump has been pretty non-committal to your movement in the past he's also called China's leadership in paying an incredible guy so is Trump a reliable ally Well I think the Hong Kong issue in the us is having strong bipartisan support regardless of the personal character of the President Trump we're not lying our work trust or of faith on one single person but we are relying on a share community that with saying that and with the same pursuit of democracy to hold hands together and we are alike in trust bipartisan support in the u.s. Of course the fight in Hong Kong is also a global fight way in the forefront of the clashes of values where are the forefront of stopping the expansion of altar terrorism and we got mutual benefits Nathan law is a key figure in Hong Kong's democracy movement he's now studying at Yale thanks for being with us happy holiday you very much. There's another growing source of tension between the u.s. And China tech talk in case you don't know tech talk is a wildly popular to post short videos it's owned by a Chinese company and critics say it's being censored not just things posted in China content posted anywhere critics point to one recent post here in the u.s. I got taken down it's a video that begins with some beauty tips but you also get something extra Here's the world's Lydia mentally do this video starts out like any other beauty to Tauriel you'd find on line I also wanted you guys how to go long lashes the 17 year old who made this take talk her name is frozen and she recorded it where she lives in New Jersey she sits close to the camera facing it she has long dark hair draped over one of her shoulders she's wearing a black shirt sporting a baby blue scrunchy around her right wrist and she's holding a pink eyelash curler up her face so the 1st thing you need to do is grab your last killer curl your lashes obviously and then for Rose's tone changes and the video takes a turn she tells people watching to put down their eyelash curlers and use their phone they are using right now to search of what's happening in China what's happening in China is a brutal government crackdown on Muslims in the country mainly ethnic weekers the Chinese government is accused of rounding up as many as 1000000 people over the past 3 years locking them up in internment camps and prisons across the remote province of Shane Jiang in northwest China separating their families from each other kidnapping them murdering them raping them forcing them to eat pork forcing them to drink the Chinese government denies all of this furrows who's a high school junior told me over the phone that she found out about what's going on in Shin Jiang through social media and I thought this cannot be true this this kind of can't be doing this for their own people and I searched up and sure enough they are it's been confirmed by the un and it broke my heart and I was. A Muslim growing up in America as an Afghan I think it's it's my duty it's my job to speak about this into spread awareness So last weekend she took to take talk now she didn't have a huge following she wasn't well known but she thought maybe if she made the video look like a beauty to Tauriel it get more views it was bait and switch basically and it worked on Sunday I woke up to a 1000000 views on there and I was like well I should create 2 more videos on this issue because there's a lot of questions regarding what's happening so I created and then on Monday I woke up to see the message that my account suspended so here's what happened to talk made it so that for Rosie couldn't access the app from her phone and took down the video many are saying this is because of take talks connections to China remember it's owned by the Chinese company by dance for us I knew about those connections when she got on take talk she also knew that the Chinese government has a tight grip on what people there can say online but she never expected that those rules would impact her 18 thousands of miles away in New Jersey there have been other accusations in the past that to talk censors videos that criticize the Chinese government accusations the company strongly denies they say that the way they moderate content here in the u.s. Is not at all influenced by Beijing but that's not what Silver employees of Tick-Tock say this is Senator Joshua Holly a Republican from Missouri at a congressional hearing earlier this month to talk was invited to the hearing but didn't show up and so Senator Hawley facing the empty chair that had been set up for tech talk brought up news reports that said that executives based in Beijing have the final say on what gets to go on take talk even if it's for users here in the u.s. That's sure a different story than the one tech talk as told this committee and that's a plan. A problem because tick tock is super popular here in the u.s. Especially among teens and young adults and it's becoming a place where they learn about current events so for example for Rosa told me that when she posted that now viral video that many teens replied saying it was the 1st time they'd ever heard about Chin junk as for that video it is now back up a tick tock spokes person who didn't want to be recorded told me that the takedown was basically an accident they've since apologized and given for access to her account I don't think I really want to post on to talk anymore but same time I don't want this to silence me I will still spread awareness about these issues and she says there are plenty of other social media apps she could do that on for the world mainly due. On yesterday's show we heard from members of the u.s. Military sharing stories about Thanksgiving spent overseas today it's a turn of a career foreign service officer they're the public servants who spend much of their working lives away from the u.s. Often separated from family and who up until the impeachment hearings this month were not really on the minds of the public happy Thanksgiving this is Laura Kennedy I'm Our was a career foreign service officer spent almost 40 years with the Department of State Kennedy served as ambassador to Turkmenistan along with other posts in the foreign service but when it comes to Thanksgiving memory she goes straight back to her 1st posting overseas I'll never forget that 1st assignment in Moscow 1977 it was my 1st overseas assignment 3 weeks after I got there brand new foreign service are still trying to sort of find my way the embassy burned it was a devastating fire knocked out our communications all of our Clare classified working area now after this terrible fire we were just engulfed with the effort to trying to repair the damages so the whole priority went to getting back on our feet after the fire and I had received my what we call household effects every all shipments that were not essential that were not geared to repairing the fire it had been held at our staging point up in hell thinking so here was the winter coming on and there was a period that when or where the temperature stayed in the minus 30 days for 3 weeks it was a really brutal winter and we were already getting snow at the beginning of September and this was with a burnt roof on the of the embassy itself I had no where close so not a fun time so the embassy very kindly gave me a break over Thanksgiving to go up to retrieve some of my goods including winter coats and boots and things so it was a treat actually to be up in. I'm the other hand on your own 1st Thanksgiving away from family and so on and the American ambassador there who was a quite legendary Ross Ridgeway heard that I was in town invited me sight unseen to her Thanksgiving dinner so I sat down at her residence with her other gas which included the embassy Marines other folks like me who might not have family at post and what it was a lovely dinner but the real value of it was that the ambassador reaches out to people who don't have their own Thanksgiving but people just make do all over the world there are increasingly around the world many people who are at a company post so they don't have the family to help them peel the potatoes and stuff the turkey is there really on their own then I'm talking about the fact that we've had number of foreign service people assigned in Iraq in Afghanistan in war zones places where we have civil unrest all over the world foreign service people face all sorts of different situations the main thing is that whether they have a full scale Turkey or just frozen turkey burger is the fact that they are overseas they're delighted to be serving their country but it reminds them of what you give up and that is being away from your own friends and family and your country and that's why Foreign Service folks support each other to look after your colleagues whether their kids there can they are family former ambassador Laura Kennedy remembering her 1st Thanksgiving abroad as a foreign service officer in the Soviet Union You're listening to the world. We think of Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving as a time of crowds lining up outside stores ready to fight over T.V.'s and toys police say what happened here this morning was utter chaos they call it a sham eat but are consumers and retailers losing enthusiasm why are we doing this why are we paying people double overtime to do be here to serve is not so great customers on the next Morning Edition from n.p.r. News from when you wake up until 9 am Friday on. I'm Marco Werman And you're with the world for the rest of this Thanksgiving Day We're going to rebroadcast one of our favorite stories from earlier this year and take you on a journey down the Mississippi River. All right right. Back or if you want to take a canoe trip from Helena Arkansas down the Mississippi and normal times you just put your boat in the river and go forward but these are not normal times that with the water here but a willow tree. Right now. That's canoe guide Tanner alge it's with the Quapaw river company and I'm Jason Margolis reporter with the world this spring and summer cities farms homes and businesses near the river have been besieged by flooding it was the wettest 12 month period ever recorded in the continental United States driven by record precipitation throughout parts of the Midwest much of that rain water and snow melt made its way into the Mississippi drainage system and headed south so finding a canoe path to the Mississippi River in Arkansas paddling through that gets of trees that would normally be on dry land. Well it's a mess then they get torn up by the corn the challenge of our canoe ride will be the 21st century challenge confronting the river too much water eventually after an hour of struggle covering a mile and a half as the crow flies we punched through to the main channel of the Mississippi Ok good. Welcome to the Mississippi River. Marco Werman Back with you again today we're taking a trip down the Mississippi the Mississippi of t