update and speak with b bassam haddad. as trump's election victory and early cabinet picks embolden white supremacists and threaten reproductive rights we'll 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? ,e will speak with hina shamsi director of the americanan 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. rubberer bullets. we're trying to keep people warm. we're trying to get them decontaminated and treating all kinds of wounds. withe have been hit canisters in the leg and that type of thing. nermeen going will get an update from the father of sophia wilansky who is in critical condition after reportedly being by cononcussion grenanade. as we head into the thanksgiving weekend, we will speak withh .oxanne dunbarar-ortiz all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm nermeen shaikh. amy goodman is on assignment and will return on monday. south carolina governor nikki haley has reportedly accepted president-elect donald trump's offer to be ambassador to the united nations, making her the first woman to be picked for his cabinet. the first fifive appointmementse whitite men. haley, the daughter of indian immigrants, has almost no foreign policy experience. except for making the trips overseas to discuss economic development oppoportunities. during the presidential race, she supported florida senator marco rubio but later said she voted for trump. if coonfirmed by the senate, she would be replaced by south carolilina lieutenant governor henry mcmaster, a major r ally f trumump. this comes as trump has reportedly asked retired neurosurgeon and 2016 republican presidential candidate and theon to consider taking position of secretary of housing and urban development. carson has no government experience and no experience with housing or urban policy. trump heheld an on-the-record meeting with reporters andnd editors at the "new york times" office after briefly and tuesday spontaneously canceling the meeting earlier that morning. in the interview trump said 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 ethno-nationalist propaganda mill." trump also attempted to distance himself from white supremacists, who have celebrated his victory, including during a white supremacist conference over r te weekend in which participants used the nazi i salute and quotd nazi propaganda in the original german. meanwhile e cnn is under fire or , a segmenent on white supremact richard spencer, w who has saide -- during the lower third on cnn's screen read "alt-right founder questions if jews are people." spencer has said he has a psychic c connectionon with dond trump. after widespread backlash, prompting cnn to call the caption "poor judgment." a member of donald trump's transition team, kansas secretary of state kris kobach, has accidentally revealed his proposed strategic plan for the department of homeland security, which includes an ideological extreme vetting test for immigrants seeking to enter the united states and reinstating a registry for immigrants from majority-muslim countries. kobach was photographed carrying documents outlining this strategic plan into a meeting with donald trump on sunday. following 9/11, kobach himself helped design the registry for immigrants from majority-muslim countries, known as the national security entry-exit 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 it ineffective. nearly 200 organizations are now calling on the obama administration to rescind the legal framework for the registry before obama leaves office, so trump's administration cannot reinstate it. new york city is spinning more than 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 officials say these costs will continue, even after trump'ss nitration as his wife melania and their son barron are expected to continue living in trump tower. ruledconsin, a court has legislature engaged in a constitutional gerrymamaering to favor the republican party when it redrew the state assembly districts in 2011. the case is likely to go to the supreme court. baggage handlers at chicago's o'hare 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 world's busiest airports on one of the year's 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 germany's main airline, lufthansa, cancelled nearly 900 flights today after pilots went on strike to demand a pay raise. meanwhile, tens of thousands of fast-food workers, home care, and childcare workers in 340 cities will join the chicago airport workers on tuesday for what they're 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 the u.s. are planning protests on friday, the day after thanksgiving, which is considered a major shopping day in the united states. in chicago, activist are planning a black friday boycott on michigan avenue 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 at the offices of sheriff's departments 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 frfrom mosul amid the ongoing fight by iraqi security forces backed by the u.s. special operations soldidiers and u. 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 al-abed. >> we fled from the aden neighborhood on foot i in the ay tranansported is by y truckk and brought us year. thank god. the situation is good. clashes are stitill going on, bt the ararmy will prevail, god willing. nermeen: in yemen, at least 19 people have died in fighting on the outskirts of taiz, as a 48-h-hour ceasefirire expired. the ceasefire never completely halted u.s.-backed saudi-led airstrikes, nor offensives by the houthi rebels. britain's high court began hearing a lawsuit tuesday filed by more than 40,000 nigerians demanding oil giant shell clean up spills that have contaminated water with cancer-causing 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. scientists say the fires are fueled by less rainfall due to climate change. the fires are threateningg indigenous land and crops in the 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 affect. nermeen: pakistan says indian army shelling into kashmir has killlled at least nine civilians and injured nine more after an artillery shell hit a bus wednesday. the pakistani officials say the inindian army alsoso attacked te ambulance that arriv o on site. fighting between pakistan and india in the disputed kashmimir reregion has been escalating for months. and in ohio, a prosecutor r says he will retry white former universisity of cincinnati polie officer ray tensing for murdering 43-year-old samuel dubose. officer tensing shot dubose in the head after pulling him over for having a missing front lilicense plate in 2015. tensing was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with a confederate battttle 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 sosome of the heheadlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm 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 numbmber last year. the vast majority, 850,000 people, are being blockaded by the syrian government. on monday, the u.n. human rights agency said civilians trapped in eastern aleppo, where the final hospitals have been destroyed by syrian government bombing, are facing annihilation. on tuesdsday, the u.n. spokespeperson rupert t colville said the attacks on hospitals, 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 anything new about it he cut it is so unremittingly awful, despite the occasional let up, overall, it is a rent us. the factories hospitals and clinics are continuously hit is a matter of very, very grave concern. nermeen: the world health organization says the syrian government's intense bombing campaign against eastern aleppo has damaged and shut down the area's only remaining hospitals, leaving 250,000 people trapped without access to medical care. doctors warn the damaged hospitals 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 f fhters lilinked to al-qaeda withdrew wd the e fighting stoppeded. well, for more, we're joined by two guests. in chicago, dr. zaher sahloul is founder of the american relief coalition for syria and senior advisor and former president of the syrian amerirican medical society. he has visited aleppo five times since the war began. he was a classmate of bashar al assad in medical school. and in washington, d.c., bassam haddad is director of the middle east and islamic studies program at george mason university. he is co-founder 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." he's 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 eastern 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 we're talking about a city that has 300,000 people, among them 100,000 children, who are trapped with no food or medical for the past four months. everyone is watching with indifference. we're 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. it was a hospital underground for protection for the doctors and nurses and it was completely destroyed. that hospital used to perform everyife-saving surgeries year. two days, two more hospitals were destroyed, which are the largest hospitalals that are dog -- taking, patients. every day there are massacres. right now the space for treating these patients is shrinking. pain medicine, antibodies, sutures, and a shortatage of doctors. every 17 hours right now, , in aleppo, there is a targeting of health care facilities. every 6060 hours, there's a targeting and killing of a health-care worker. in the last 144 days, there were 143 attacks on health care facilitities in syria committedy 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 dangerousus job on earth. those e who want to continue to save lives, but they need to be protected. nermeen: dr. sahloul, did you say where people are going now? yoyou are in touch with medical personnel in aleppo. where are people going now to seek medical treatment? >> there are still small medical facilities that are open and treating patients. they are semi-destroyed or partially destroyed. there are some basements of buildings that are doctors are treating their patients. when i was in aleppo, i visited seven medical l facilities. these are hospitals in aleppo before the crisis. a few of them are very small and they do not have the capacity to treat the victims of trauma or victims of chemical weapons -- as we werere seeing in the last few days. in spite of that, they are opening some of their spspaces thatat are not desestroyed to kp accommodating the patients. health care is one essential part thahat keeps a city going. if you destroy every facility were medical facility, that means you're destroying the neighborhoods, destroying the city. that is why it is crucial to keep anything that will keepp providing medical care e to the civilians in the city y aleppo. nermeen: i would like to bring in professor bassam haddad director of the middle east and , islamic studies program at george mason university. he is co-founder 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 to the brutal bombardment of eastern aleppo in the almost total destruction of life. necessarily not want to create any kind of parity, but it reveals a lack of reporting about that kind of direction of shelling into western aleppo. point, asignificant co-panelist, if you will, has just shared, is that what we are witnessing in aleppo today especially in aleppo, is nothing short of a slaughter. that is, unfortunately, when i was here three weeks ago on the show, i had discussed that we had not seen then anything yet compared to what is likely to happen and i fear this will continue. this viciousness will continue until the regime in russia take over eastern aleppo because it is considered a necessary step to prop up their position in any future negotiation -- before, during, or after the takeover or the trump administration comes into effect. that is what needs to happen in order for aleppo to fall. 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 but deliberate in the situation. nermeen: professor, could you say a little more about what you expect will happen given the regime and other parties involved? what do you think will happen in eastern aleppo? -- i mean, as my colleagues said, we are all at a loss for words. there is that thing that can describe what actually might happen if this onslaught continues. a strategic levelel, the syrian regime and the russians will not stop until -- it seems they will not stop until eastern aleppo is within their controlol. there are overlapping interests. it is also important to recognize that there might be a risk after that poinint because the degree to o which they both want to conquer all off aleppops very similar. but in any future process, it seems like russia is much more interested i in focusing on stability and some sort of control of the situation in syria, where is the regime is most interested in recog ring the entirety of syria and establishing itself and certainly it's survival. that might actually open the door for some negotiation. case,fear if this is the if the entirety of aleppo is captured, it will leave any scenario very little room m 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.s. so t there is the theater that people are asking the united states to intervrvene and to do more, but in reality, 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 well-being of syria and syrians, with or without the revolution or the regime for purposes that are mostly geopolitical. because as s we know, before 20, all of the parties that supposedly today are trying to defend syria or fight for syria or help the revolution in syria were supporting the regime of syria. nermeen: before we talk about the role of the u.s. in syria, i would like to ask dr. sahloul about 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 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 keeping people -- let's not forget that the population of eastern aleppo was 1.5 million before the crisis. right now it is 300,000. that means 1.2 million are already refugees or displaced in turkey or the rest of syria. b 300,000 people are there because they've no other place to go. even if they wanted to go, where would they go? turkey has sealed the border completely. any other place in syria is dangerous because the russians and the syrians have been bombing nearby. they cannot go to government controlled areas because they can be tortured and detained. of course, that happens frequently, previously in other places put under siege. if they are let go, that is called ethnic cleansing -- forced evacuation, corning to the united nations. .t has happened elsewhere right now we are witnessing what is becoming the next ethnic cleansing or forced evacuation and area. there might be some terrorist group around aleppo, but that is not what is giveven the p peopl. what is keeping g the people in, that no other place to go and they're also trapped. they cannot go to any place that is dave. amy: professor, to return to the point that you raised about u.s. involvement in syria, i would like to quote from an interview syrian incidental stuff 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 bush are al-assad. the united states helped create a situation, he said, in which syria would be plunged into chaos but the regime would emain in power." could you respond to that and give us a sense of what u.s. policy, vis-a-vis, syria, has been from the start of the uprising in 2011 to the present day? at first i respect the perseverance of the dissident that was imprisoned by the syrian regime is suffered the structural brutality for 16 years by the syrian regime. i support the idea that the u.s. intervention has been anything but positive from the very beginning. beensaid earlier, this has , in my view, quite obvious. it is that i also wish, based on the quote that you gave me, i wish h he had thought t abouthis or prorovided it as adadvised ey on to the revolutionaries when they were tripping over themselves here down the s stret and washingtgton, d d.c., cozyip to the u.s. policy makers and trying to move things in a particular direction. when in reality, this was basically 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. intntervention and t tk about what is the real interest of syrians. because everybody is bypassing the interest of syrians. as a resulult of this kind of support by the people like yassim for more critical view, we are beginning to see a risk, if you will, between think tank ,nalysts within the u.s. supportive of a transitional establishment approach that seeks to secure first and the security of israel, we're 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 iran's domination of the region or control and israel's security. whereas, the revolutionaries are much more interested in the well-being of syrians. and this rift actually can be viewed by looking at how think tank analysts today are scrambling to oppose a trump not then the basis of syrian people, not the health of the syrian uprising, but on how it might produce positive effects that trump's policy might produce positive effects for iran, syria, and their allies, cleaning has a lot, 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 territorial resume -- regime. nermeen: dr. sahloul, the star al-assad commented for the first time on trump's electoral victory last week, calling him "a natural ally of his regime." could you, quickly, tell us what you expect from a trump presidency, vis-a-vis, syria? >> before that, we are calling for a day of solidarity with the doctors and nurses in syria on friday. where everyone should put the #neveragainisnow. this is something that's important because committing war crimes against doctors and nurses should be recognized by everyone. it should not be normalized. trump said he wille supporting president of thought. what kept people in syria hopeful of the future is the fact there 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 , founder of the american release coalition for syria and senior advisor and former president of the syrian american medical society. he has visited aleppo five times since ththe war began. he was a classmate of bashar al assad. bassam haddad is director of the middle east and islamic studies program at george mason university. thank you for joining us. he is associate professor at george mason university, co-founder of jadaliyya. he is director of the ab studies institute. he wrote a piece for the nation last month headlined, "the debate over syria has reached a dead end." when we come back, we turn to trump's policies that are concerned -- people are concerned about, making white supremacy respectable again. that is the name of an article 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" tuesday for a wide-ranging conversation that covered the election -- 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 alt-right. critics say the group was energized by trump's win. when asked about the movement, trump answered -- "i don't want to energize the group. i'm not looking to energize them. i don't 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 i'm going to work very hard to bring the country together." concerns about the so-called alt-right were heightened after a conference that took place over the weeeekend in washingto, d.c., where hundreds gathered to celebrate donald trump's victory. and some attendees raised their arms in the traditional nazi sallute as leader richarard sper spoke.e. > amemerica was,, untilil tht generation, a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity. creation, it is our inheritance, and it belongs to us. nermeen: leaders of the alt -right movemement have been emboldldened since trump named steve bannon to become his chief strategist after first being his campaign manager. bannon is the former head of the right-wing news outlet, breitbtbart media. for more, we're joined by ofherine franke, director the center for gender 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. could you tell is about this these? nou wrote it in response to a article by a colleague. tell us about the arguments he articulated in his piece. >> thank you for having me on the show and for engaging this lease -- piece. "newrguments made in the york times goes go up and are not new. they resonate from the late 1990's for the likes of michael to mask he, who really felt, enough already, being bothered by special interest, whether that was women, people of color, gay and lesbian people stop let's get back to what made america great, which was s libel democracy that our founding fathers had in mind. and this attention to racism, sexism, homophobia is really a distractionn and it kind of surrendered itself to self-indulgence that is counterproductive. for my colleague to issue this kind of op-ed in "the new york times," at this time, it struck me as enormously insensitive, both to the political situation we are in now or donald trump's election signals the invitation of a kind of new white supremacy in this country, but even more than that, or parallel to that, what is going on at columbia. i am worried about this as he issues this op-ed in theeame week that a numbmber of young mn on our wrestling team at columbia were chastised and discharged from the team for issuing the most ugly, sexist, racist, 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 that hatred respectable again. nermeen: i want to ask about a specific point he makes in the article which is, during her campaign, hillary clinton explicitly referred to african-american lit dino, 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 working-class 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 we're seeing is a kind of seductive argument to well-intentioned liberals who are tired of feeling comfortablble. they h have a kind of identity fatigue. theyey're tired of being called out for their privilege. let's get back to the kinds of forms of governance we are comfortable with. and those are the forms of white-leadthahat are and in the interest of white people as the neuutral n norm. nermeen: let's turn to president-elect trump. your response to the fact that yesterday to "the new york times," you that he disavows the alt-right movement and steve bannon is not a part of it. what you think, first of all, did 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 was primacy? >> i guess we will see. faith frome any watching this man on a national political stage that any of this he feels deeply and his heart and will remain consistent in repudiating what's a permissive like -- what supremacists. he is baking them into his administration with a kind of a poignancy is making of right-wing supporters 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 knowsrson at hud, who 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 fuses crony capitalism to undermine democracy, what we see in mike ofce is the victory evanangelical christianity as a way to overcome underlying long-term commitment to democracy and pluralism, value pluralism in this country. what i think we certainly saw with governor pence in indiana and i think what we will see with vice president pence in washington is the return to religious liberty as a kind of delivery system for white christian nationalism. amy: i w 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 obama's early statate and the authorization of military force and how it cocoud be expanded under president trump. during his meeting tuesday with "new york times," he answered questions on foreign policy. 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, 'i've never found it to be useful.' he said, 'i've 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, fofor more on trtrump's foreign n policy positions, we'e joined now by hina shamsi, director of the american civil liberties union's national security project. hina shamsi, can you tell us some of your concerns about what forump presidency will mean 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 precisely he means by it now -- 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. controversiesest that has come out -- let me start off by saying i think it is very hard to know what the things are that candidate trump proposed -- which are deeply troubling and unconstitutional. we have analyzed many of these proposals and are poised to challenge them should they be put in place. but let's take this registry. what it is, what you referred to earlier 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 required them -- men from 25 countries, mostly majority muslim countries, and required them to come in for fingerprinting and interrogation. it resulted in devastation. proximally 13,000 people were cited for deportation. families were torn apart. small businesses were deeply, negatively impacted. in impacts continue communities today. now the program is discontinued in april 2011. it never notably resulted in any kind of criminal prosecution for terrorism, for example. the department of homeland security discontinued it and said they were going to focus instead on targeting actual wrongdoing instead of these kinds of registrations 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 is a concern, a deep concern, one that is roiling communities around d e country, that it could be reinstated. so there is one very important thing the obama administration , over 200the aclu organizations, collects around the country have asked for this, which is dismantle thehe regugulatory framewowork that sl exists for nseers and is still in place and make clear that is served little to no purpose so will be harderam to reinstate again if the new administration is hell-bent on doing it. nermeen: i want to thank you for joining us, hina shamsi, director of the american civil liberties union's national security project. turn tocome back, we north dakota and we will be joined by two guests there. please, stay with us. ♪ [musisic break] nermeen: "in the river: a protest song" by raye zaragoza. i am nermeen shaikh filling in for amy goodman. she is on assignment and will be back on monday. so feel a whiskey has been undergoing a series of surgeries after he orderly being hit by a concussion grenade during the police attack against water prprotectors fightingg t the $38 billion dadakota accesss pipelie inin north dakota sunday night. the ststanding rock medic andnd healer c council says 300 people were hurt in the attack with ininjuries including hypothermia from being sprayed by water cannons and so everything temperatures,, seizures, loss of consciousness, and impaired vision as a result of being g st by a rubbeber bullet in the fac. on sunday nightht, sophia lewiny was aiairlifted to hospital aftr susuffing a critical i injury to her left arm.. phototos show paparts of herer t arm nearly blblown away with her muscle andnd bone exexposed. a warnining to our tv audiences, these photos are graphic. this is army veteran brady king of the foubelklknap reservavatin who helped transport sophia after she was injured. kingsford disking served in the u.s. a army. >> i can even explain to you because you don't really - -- i guess you don't expect those kinds of wins happening when they're not in combat. it felt like a combat wound will stop it looked like it was a combat wound. shrapnel ones. she did not have burns. her arm was split open. her skin -- her flesh was ripped off of her arm. her bones were broken. county sheriff's department is claiming the police are not responsible for injury and that concussion grenadad were not t used during the police attack. for more we are joined by sophia's father wayne wilansky. thank you for joining us on democracy now! could you tell us, first off, how your daughter sophia 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. what about your response to the claims made by the morton county sheriff's they were not -- the police were not responsible for the concussion 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 time. she has got bullet wins on her body -- wounds on her body and she was backing away the time and trying to reach for a sealed solely bullets would not hit her at the time e the concussion grenade hit her in the arm and exploded.. witnesses that i have spoken to --d that the police officers it takes seven seconds for these concussion g grenades go off. instead d of throwing them on te ground, they pulled the plug, held him for five seconds, and through them directly at her. i was a the comets from the worn county sheriff's department are ridiculous and not w worthy of a shred of bully. nermeen: the doctors also found shrapnel in her widowed? >> yes, her treating vascular surgeon told me after the surgery that he pulled as much out as he thought he could and the second day w was to clean it out and make sure they did not leave anything in there. you have to get all of the debris out or the tissue will get infected d and the e whole m will die anyway. yes, he pulled all of the shrub no -- shrapnel out. he went to the pathology so it is in the hospital records. i want to ask about the fbi agents who visited your hospital room yesterday. at least one of f 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 d to comment. with the fbi agegents were doing at the hospital yesterday cap go >> honestly, it wawas an intruse and a very hard time. sophia was waiting to go to surgery. 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 they're looking for was her clothing. i did eventually consent. i had taken her clothing back to my hotel room the night before and i did consent to give them the clothing eventually after talking to the supervisors. i have an unwritten agreement, but i put it in writing anyway, that they will give me access to those materials so i can test them as well and it will preserve and not destroy that evidence because i would want to see it and have it forensically tested myself. nermeen: quickly before we conclude, what is it you are demanding now? > well, what i'm demanding i, number one, they clear that bridge because it took many, many hours toet sophia airlifted out of there and there are people that are going to die there. they need to clear that b bridge so people can get to h hospital. they neeto have -- president obama has to step in and stop this. they're drilllling now come e en know they do not have a permit. the army corps of engineers has asked them to stop. the army corps of engineers has said they were not going to issue a department until after they did further and viral studies and spokeke with the tribe, yet they set the rules in place and continue and are probably drilling underneath the river as we speak. asas a very dangerous situation and that is just they never won. number two, they have to demimilitarize the police. there's no reason the p police should be intentionally trying to kill people, maim people, and us has to stop. nermeen: thank you for joining minneapolis, when wolinsky the father of , 21-year-old activist sophia wilansky. tomuch of the u.s. prepares mark thanksgiving this weekend, many native americans will gather in plymouth to commemorate the 47th national day 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, we're joined in san francisco by indigenous historian and activist roxanne dunbar-ortiz. she is the author of "an indigenous peoples' history of the united states." and co-author of "all the real indians died off. and 20 other myths about native americans." ,elcome back to democracy now! roxanne. could you tell us, as the nation prepares to observe thanksgiving, a national holiday 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, warfaression, constant from that time -- ackley, from 1607 in jamestown, until the present will stop 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. it wasebrate columbus? 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. 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, independents -- 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. ina 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 -- 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 lie oftestified to the 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. ,ermeen: roxanne dunbar-ortiz thank you for joining us indigenous historian and indigenous historian and activist. ,that does it for today's show. tune in tomorrow for our standing rock special. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to [email protected] or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. 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