♪ amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> the north korean army will complete the plan to hit guam before august. we will stay ready for his order of proceed. amy: the world forwards between the u.s. and north korea intensifies. north korea threatens to hit jim mathis warns this

could end in the destruction of its people. this after trump vowed to hit north korea with "fire and fury." we then look at how attorney general jeff sessions is using the justice department to roll back decades of progress. on civilil r rights,s, voting r, rights and reform. >>s s a whole, i i think, has bn unfairly maligned and blamed for an acceptable of a few bad actors. speak with the head of the civil rights division at the department of justice in the obama administration until january. all that and more, coming up. ♪ amy: welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

i'm amy y goodman. the trump administration sent mixed messages wednesday over the possibility of nuclear war with north korea, as secretary of state rex tillerson sought to defuse tensions, while defense secretary james mattis threatened a nuclear attack. on wednesday, mattis warned north korea not to take any action that could result in the "end of its regime" and the "destruction of its people." his comments came a day after trump startled the worldand reportedly, his own advisors, advisersthreatening north korea with, "fire and fury like the world has never seen." secretary of state tillerson downplayed the rhetoric. rex tillerson: i think american should sleep well at night and have no concerns about this particular rhetoric over the last few days. t the president, again, as commander-in-chief. i think he felt it necessary to issue a strong rhetoric. amy: in response, north korea threatened to hit guam.

north korea said its military is working on a plan to fire four missiles. that sound mitigation is not possible what such a man as trump. outside the white house, protesters called wednesday for the trump administration to negotiate a solution to the north korea crisis. under the so-called "freeze-for-a-freeze" deal, north korea would temporarily halt nuclear and missile tests in return for a reduced american military presence in the korean peninsula. this is peace activist medea benjamin of the group code pink. >> we are here to tell donald trtrump that w we want a freezer a freeze. because if there were a frereeze for a a freeze, it w would openp ththe space for real negotiatio. and that is what really needs to happen. on escalatingore

tensions between north korea and the united states after the headlines. the fbi carried out t a pre-dawn raid last month of the home of donald trump's former campaign chair, paul manafort, in the latest escalation of special counsel robert mueller's investigation into alleged russian meddling in the 2016 election. the july 26 raid, which was confirmed wednesday by a spokesperson for manafort, saw agents seize tax documents and foreign bank records. the raid came one day after manafort testified to senate investigators about his meeting, along with trump's son-in-law jared kushner and trump's son donald trump jr., last summer with a kremlin-linked lawyer promising damaging information on hillary clinton. in kenya, protests over tuesday's presidential election boiled over into violence, as police shot and killed five people in three different cities around the country wednesday. the protests came as vote counting showed incumbent uhuru kenyatta with a comfortable lead

over his main rival, opposition leader raila odinga. in the nairobi neighborhood of kibera, the largest slum in africa, residents rallied thursday in support of odinga. >> matters of the economy are difficult. we want change. we want the government that can help the youth. to understand the problems we face. and we're tired of the government because they have been unable to do their job. amy: odinga claimed tuesday's vote was marred by "massive" fraud and that hackers infiltrated the servers of kenya's electoral commission. that contradict the statement wednesday by kenya's election chief who rejected the hacking claim. john kerry, who observed the election on behalf of the carter center, called kenya's election transparent and said the final results would be cross-checked with paper records. survivors of the

u.s. led battle to recapture mosul from isis say hundreds of thousands of the city's displaced residents have been slow to return home. the united nations estimates mosul needs more than $1 billion just to reststory electricity, sanitatition, water, and other basic infrastructure. this is west mosul resident , abdelfattah. don't like to return here, not for the elderly but for the children. what fault of they committed? they have no schools, education or health care. people to ask us what we need. we have nothing. we sit here daily, patiently waiting. amy: an estimated 700,000 residents fled the 9-month-long battle to recapture mosul. iraqi intelligence reports claim more than 40,000 civilians died in the fighting. in the mediterranean, libya's coast guard said wednesday it fired warning shots to drive off a spanish vessel after it

wandered into libya's territorial waters. but members of the migrant aid group proactiva dispute the account, saying their boat "open arms" was patrolling international waters. earlier this week, proactiva said italy and malta barred the group from disembarking migrants rescued at sea. aid groups have come under increasing pressure from libyan and european governments not to assist refugees and other migrants attempting the perilous crossing. a report this week from the international organization for migration found more than 115,000 migrants have crossed into europe by sea so far this year, and more than 2,400 have died attempting the crossing. meanwhile, a french court on tuesday ordered a four-month suspended jail sentence for farmer cedric herrou, who led a team of volunteers who provided food and shelter to migrants entering france from italy in 2016. outside the court, herrou told reporters he has no regrets, adding, "it is the role of a

citizen in a democracy to act when the state is failing." canada's government deployed soldiers wednesday to erect a camp near the u.s. border to process the roughly 250 asylum-seekers arriving in montreal each day, as they flee the trump administration's crackdown on refugees and immigrants. the camp, near the border with new york state, will accomodate up to 500 people in heated tents. most of those seeking asylum are haitians who took refuge in the u.s. afterer a devastating earthquake in 2010. the trump administration has threatened to remove protected status for haitians, which could affect up to 58,000 people. in the gaza strip, at least four palestinians were injured, one of them with a fractured skull, after israel launched airstrikes in three different sites in gaza. israel's military said the strikes were a response to a rocket fired into southern israel. a spokesperson for hamas said he was unaware of any rocket attacks and that no palestinian groups had claimed

responsibility. the violence followed a warning by the united nations last month, declaring israel's blockade and electricity cuts have made e gaza "unlivable" for its more than 2 million residents. in israel, an idf soldier who was caught on video executing a wounded palestinian man last year began a prison term wednesday after he lost his final appeal contesting his manslaughter conviction. the video shows palestinian abdel fattah al-sharif, who was reportedly a suspect in a stabbing earlier in the day, lying immobilized on the ground in hebron in the israeli-occupied west bank. the video then appears to show israeli sergeant elor azaria firing a single shot into the man's head from a close distance, killing him. azaria was convicted in february and sentenced to 18 months in prison. he'll be eligible for parole in nine months. meanwhile, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu rallied thousands of supporters in tel aviv wednesday, as israeli prosecutors press criminal investigations into charges that netanyahu and his aides committed bribery, fraud

and breach of trust. netanyahu's speech to members of his right-wing likud party drew comparisons to president donald trump's rallies. opposition left-wing and media are one of the same. they are listing a hunt against me and my family. aiming to oust the government. amy: last week, netanyahu's former chief of staff agreed to serve as state witness for the prosecution in a case alleging netanyahu traded political favors for $130,000 worth of luxury gifts, including cigars and champagne. netanyahu is also reeling from leaked transcripts of secret recordings that show he traded favors for positive coverage from israel's dominant newspaper. back in the u.s., farmworkers in washington state are demanding justice and safe working conditions after one of their colleagues fell ill and died after picking berries in a field near the canadian border. 28-year-old father-of-three

, honesto silva ibarra, was working for sarbanand farms last week amid scorching temperatures and smoke from nearby wildfires when he began complaining of intense headaches. silva's colleagues say supervisors denied his requests for medical attention and order him to keep working or be fired. silva later collapsed while seeking help, and was rushed to a hospital in seattle where he died sunday. on friday, at least 70 workers were fired for insubordination after they organized a one-day work stoppage to protest silva's death and dangerous conditions in the fields. the workers, who are in the u.s. under the h-2a guest worker program, have refused to leave the u.s. and have since joined the farmworkers' union "families united for justice." and in puerto rico, the u.s. federal judge presiding over the island's massive bankruptcy approved a deal wednesday that would see credititors' competing claims on the territory's sales taxes approved by mid-december. the expedited timeline came as activists rallied outside the u.s. district courthouse in san juan, supporting a group of

uninsured creditors who are asking for an investigation into puerto rico's debt, citing possible conflicts of interest between members of the oversight board and bondholders. this is eva prados, a lawyer with thehe citizen's fronont foe auditing of the debt. >> what is happening is not a common bankruptcycy procedurere. it is the biggest that has been held in all of the united states. edible t to find thehe economic future of puerto r rico. a group o ofvoringg senatotors? because we undnderstand ththat e ininvestigation proposesed is an important investigigation. we understanand t that this hasa prprecise interest in the evaluation of f the legalility f ththe debt, paparticularlyly in evererything related to the bank mission. they percent an opportunity to know the role of the banks in a related matter. amy: in the latest round of austerity this week, the oversight control board said it will slash the pensions for the majority of puerto rico's

retired workers by up to 25 % and reduce the workday for all public workers, except police, by up to two days a month. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> we turn now to increasing tensions between north korea and the united states. on wednesday u.s. defense secretary james mattis warned north korea not to take any action that could result in the "end of its regime" and the "destruction of its people." the warning came one day after president trump startled the world hinting the u.s. could carry out a nuclear strike on north korea. donald trump: north korea best not make any more threats to the united stas.s. they will be m met with fire and theory like the world has never seseen. he has been very threatening

a normal state. and they willl be met with fiir, fear he and franklkly, power, te likes of which this world has never you beforore. ththank you. nermeeeen: hours after he spoke, north korea threatened to strike the u.s. territory of guam in the western pacific. guam is home to 163,000 people as well as several major u.s. military bases. a statement issued by the north korean state media said of trump "sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him." amy tension has been rising over : north korea in recent weeks. the u.n. security council recently imposed a new round of sanctions against north korea over its test launches of two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month. the sanctions ban north korean exports of coal, iron, lead and seafood, which could slash up to one-third of the country's

export revenue. meanwhile china is warning that a "war of words" between the u.s. and north korea could spiral out of hand. on wednesday secretary of state rex tillerson attempted to defuse t the situatition. he spoke in guam on a stopover on his way back to washington. rex tillerson: i think american should sleep well at night and have no concerns about this particular rhetoric over the last few days. we are joined now by tim shorrock. he has been writing about this since t the 1970's. he is a correspondent fofor the nationon and the korea center fr investigative journalism. he spent april and may in gwangju, south korea. korea look returned from and this escalated to a level that we have not seen before this week. with trump promising fire and fewer read. your response and help people in are responding to

this? i thought trump's statement was astonishing and frightening. it was reminiscent of the statement that truman made before he dropped the atomic bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki. he was threatening north korea with nuclear strikes. this is an extremely dangerous position for an american president to take. especially when there is no immediate threat to what thehey call the homelanand. north korea has definitely built rockets that could go for thousands of miles butut it is't clear if they actually have one that could reach the united states. the defense intelligence agency has put out a report this week, weekday report this week to the washington post saying they should have the capability to put a nuclear weapon on an

l ballisticnenta missssile by next year. it isn''t clear with the think industry, we are driving towards war with north korea. as far as people in south korea a april i was there in and may, tensions were pretty high. that is when trump sent the .rmada ships people in sosouth korea wewere t momoreoncecerned about w what tp might do then n what north korea might do. that is still feeling today. people in south korea have heard similar kinds of statements from north korea for years. makingy often see it as strong words to scare people.

it toat trump said raises a whole another level and i think there is a deep concern trump and the u.s. military could do some kind of preemptive strike on north korea's missile site as was the news.ast nightht on so i think it is a very serious situation. nermeen: what do you think the significance of the north korea plan to fire four missiles near guam and they will be ready soon? and saying that trump is a reret of reason? when tensions became high with north korea, the united states repeatedly flying bombers from guam to the korean airspace, sometimes accompanied by japanese fighters on the way

and then they pick up by soututh korean figighters as t they entr airspace. these are not nuclear capable but theyey are capable of widespread destruction. and they could probablbly destry hahalf of north korea. and the u.s. has been sending these airplanes from wall and theyey did that as recently as o days ago. so i think north korea's statemement was a warning to the united states. they are very aware of the base that these airplanes fly out of. let's go to the statement made on the north korean state media. >> the north korean army will mompmplete its plalan h head qa before august. we will stay ready for his order of proceed.

that was a statement made on north korean state media today. can you talk about what was said in that statement and whether this is unprecedented in terms of remarks that the north korean state has made before? tim: it is unprecedented in saying that they will go after a specific u.s. base or territory. but ththey have made statements like this before. during the 1990's crisis. when they pulled out of the nuclear proliferation treaty. lhey talked about turning seou into a "sea of fire." they oftenorea says talk about a plan and it will be carried out on the order of kim jong-un and they havave made t s kind of statement before. toy said they were prepared

test another nuclear weapon and they are just waiting for the order to do it. so they are saying they have the capability and they are just waiting for the great leader, the dear leader, to make this and give them the order to do this. so they are not saying they could do this tomorrow but they are saying they were prepared do do this. anand i think that clear statemt recognition that the airplanes that the u.s. is launching about a preemptive strike would come from guam. shows you how heidi military preparations are both sides. north korea and the united states. amy: can you tell us from north korea's perspective or the president's perspective there, has prepared the icbms

and then when trump responded in that minster, to the question about a news reports that north korea successfully miniaturized nuclear warheads which could three -- which could theoretically strike the mainland? tim: that was the report i was talking about earlier. the washington post and then was reported more widely. and a standard intelligence community report where various agency sign on to this. it was not definitive and it was put out there for a reason. trump was asked about that report and apparently that is when he made these statements. north korea has been building missiles and increasingly

nuclear capability after a series of negotiations with t te united states that some were completed. that went on for a a while and then it fell apart for various reasons. duringn they fell apart the bush administration, in particular. and then bush try to reinvigorate the talks. withhen thehere were talks china and japan. to an agreement at that time. we're north korea wouldld end te program when obama came in. and obama, president obama's policy was basically to ratchet up the tension. there were negotiaiations with direct talks with north korea for a while and early on in

obama's administration, north korea fired a rocket that they accurately claimed they were trying to put a satellite in space but that has grounds for obama taking north korea to the united nations and they were condemned therefore that and sanctions were slapped on them for that.. and they proceeded to test nuclear weapons after that. proceeding with a missile campaign and the obama -- theiration was policy was basically that they hoped that north korea would collapse and that it would end the problem. they tooook on a policy of cyber war. for a cyber war to weaken the program. to try to damage the program in some ways like they did with iran and the nuclear program. there also was the

information operations directive in north korea. so north korea, the most important goal in all of this throughout has been wanting an end to the united states hostile policy. they saw what obama and what bush was doing as a hostile policy. and i think the grounds for talks now are to take their desire for an anti-hostile that as a try to use basiss to begin talks. the idea for a freeze for freeze were north korea freezes the development of missile tests in return for the freeze of massive north korean military exercises that take place twice a year.

and that is a starting point that both china and russia have strongly endorsed. and actually talked about at length at the un security council last weekend. and also at meetings this week with the foreign ministers. where rex tillerson was. has rejected this freeze for freeze idea. although rex tillerson did say he would open talks with north korerea as they would suspend de missile test for a while. so i think the door is slightly open therefore diplomacy but it has raised tensions to a dangerous level. nermeen: let's go to yesterday state department briefing. this is spokespeperson heather nauert.. >> i i know that you want too obsess over statements and makee a a lot of noise out o of thata. your choicece of the word

"obsessed" - -- we are not obsessssing about this. it is the presidenent of the united states threatening a nuclear armed country, whether you want to accept it or not. a cocountry that has weaeapons, threatening themem with "fire ed fury" " so i don''t think it is obsessssing toanant to know further clarification of what that meansns and whether or nott means you are preparing to send fifire and fury raining down n n ththe north korean regime. >> and i i will let the prpresident's statement answer r itself. >> but it is not obsessing. presidenthat was the spokesperson, heather nauert. tim, can you respond to that?

and also, expert analysts suggest that nothing is going to happen, they think it is all bluster. of them that neither and their statements could be taken seriously. what do you think needs to be done? kudos to that reporter for pushing back on the state department spokesperson. generally in the media, broadcast media has been focused on war, war, war. i think it is particularly true on cnn. it is almost like they are craving a war with north korea. and it is good for reporters to be asking about negotiations. stateall, secretary of haverson and james mattis been stressing diplomacy throughout until the statement yesterday by rex tillerson. rex tillerson had been a voice

of reason within the administration to say all along for the last two months that the trump administration was going to go for a diplomatic solution and not war but the statements made yesterday on the orders of the commander-in-chief went in the opposite direction so i think it is appropriate to ask about the diplomatic solution. why are we going to war, why are we threatening war, when we haven't even attempted talks with north korea? if you talk to anyone who is an region,hroughout the there is plenty of room and flexibility to talk with north korea. and there are certainly proposals that north korea has made itself as recently as 2015, when they said they would put a moratorium on their program is the united states would start opening talks about a peace end the korean war,

which is still an armistice as it has never formally ended. that is why reporters are pushing back against the state department. havese after all, here you two of the top leaders threatening diplomacy and suddenly, they are talking nuclear war? is about time thahat reporter pusush back on that. up, timore we wrap shorrock. you interviewed the south korean president. talk about his perspective? he was opposed to the missiles that the u.s. put on soil, saying he didn't know when the last pieces were brought into south korea. he, as president, was not informed. what does hehe want to happen? he wantsview was that to start talking directly with north korea and having negotiations and a settlement to

the north-self issues. isisalso to bring back what h predecessorsrs called the "sunshine pololicy" where tensis were used andnd there was e ecoc and cultural e exchanges and economic developments and south korean investment inin the north korean economy through the industrial zone that was closed of one of thes last south korean presidenents. and one of the things he stressed to me, i asked him why a lot of people in america a and press arearnational is critical of your view because they think the sunshine policy won't work but he said, you know, if south korea can bring peace for north korea, that is good for the united states and

trump should be happy about that. but he also said that trump criticizes his own predecessors, obama and bush but president previous south as thepresidents such one who was thrown out and her predecessor, they were very right-wing. brought the relations way backwards. and they helped to create the current crisis. so he wants a different policy than that. so he is caught between a rock and a hard place. because the u.s. has an enormous military presence there with enormous pressure on south korea is very strong. teststh korea fired these , the icbm test recently.

he is a great hasten the delivery of more antimissile battery but even until two days fact thatressed the after having an hour-long conversation with trump that war is out of the question. there cannot be a military solution. repeated this has again today and he also said toay that the door negotiation and diplomacy with north korea is open. concernede fairy about the ratcheting up of tensions and you will not hear this kind of statement from president moon and his administratition like you have heard from trump and his administration. amy: tim shorrock is a washington-based investigative journalist. this is democracy now. when we come back, we will get response from retired colonel

and professor, andrew bacevich. ♪ ♪ [music brereak]

amy: "world destruction" by time zone. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i am amy goodman. our guest now is andrew bacevich. a vietnam veteteran and profess. andrew, lou like e to your r response to the escalatig rhetoric on north korea and how you think it fits into other comments that trump has made and positions his administration has taken on other foreign-policy issues confronting the u.s.? andrew: i am struck by the fact that six months into his administration, this really is the first, genuine, national security crisis that he has had to face. and his initial performance is

very troubling. think about the "fire and fury" statement and one of the things that strikes me is that it is a fundamental of diplomacy 101 or politics 101 that when a public figure makes a public intement, it has to be done a way that will play to multiple audiences. it is not inappropriate, i think, for the administration to issue warnings directly at the north korean regime but it is imperative that the warnings be voice in such a way that they reassure american allies in the and it should be voice in a way that doesn't create panic, here at home.

and on that score, it seems to me that the president has failed . radically. , there has been a lot of hopeful commentary in the last 10 days or so, since general kelly came the white house chief of staff that the general's that trump has surrounded himself with -- not mcmaster andt also ththe pentagon, that they will e the voices of reason. that they will reign in the impulsive president but if we are to look at the "fire and that is anment, indication that the president is not about to be reined in and that also has to be very troubling. manyone of the concerns of

are the domestic problems at home. yesterday, we learned that two weeks ago, we learned that men afford had his home raided by the fbi. that as trump feels increasingly in circles and under pressurure, that he is going to look for an enemy abroad to diverge attention to. do you think that there could be a strong connection -- he uses words like "fire and fury" that it is what he e feels at home bt he is trying to project attention away from what he is facing here? veryw: i think that is possssible and he would not be a first president in history or major figure in world history to generate problems abroad to detract attention from problems at home. but that being said, one of the things that strikes me about his inability is

to use the english language without any sort of precision or wassse, and i think this evident in the "fire and fury" statement. there was a threat of fire and , , the use of nuclear weapopons. that is a response to further threats, and i think that notion could lead to a nuclear attack from the united that notionerica, is embedded in that statement and it causes concern and it is so indicative in such a troubling way about the

inability of this individual to speak with some understanding of the implications of what he says and many people have commented, accurately commented on the narcissism, which seems to be such a prominent characteristic of trumps personality and when you watch the video of him making the "fire and fury" comment, it is difficult to avoid thinking that the motivation of the moment is to make himself feel good. demonstrate that he is a tough guy. that he is standing up to what he perceives as a threat. of to derive a sense personal satisfaction from that threat, utterly oblivious as to the larger locations in howow tt

audience,to a better that has to be very troubling. and again, emphasizing for the fact that he still does these things. despite the fact that he is now does notd by figurures bode well for how well this crisis will play out. but it doesn't bode well for how other crises, which he will inevitably encounter, how others will play out. amy: we want to thank you very much, andrdrew bacevich. andrew bacevich is a retired colonel professor. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. back in a minute. ♪ ♪ [music break]

now, thison democracy is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm here with nermeen shaikh. -- jeff sessions has

wasted no time undoing every progress. the justice department has reinstituted the use of private prisons reignited the so-called , war on drugs and indicated it will no longer address systemic police abuses. the departmentnt has also obstructed the enforcement of federal voting rights laws and, just this week, sided with ohio's voter purge program. and, it has defended president donald trump's muslim travel ban and supported trump's attacks on sanctuary cities. most recently, the new york times reported the justice department is now laying the groundwork to undermine affirmative action policies. amy: well, to talk more about the department of justice, and the department of injustice, we go now to washington, d.c. to spend the rest of the hour with the obama-era's top civil-rights prosecutor: vanita gupta.

she joined the obama administration's justice department in 2014, just over two months after michael brown was killed by a police officer in ferguson, missouri. as the head of the civil rights division, she led the probe of the ferguson police department. under her leadership, the civil rights division went on to negotiate twenty-four agreements with law-enforcement agencies to reform their practices. gupta also emerged as a fearless and consistent advocate for transgender and voting rights. she is now the president and chief executive of the leadership conference on civil and human rights. we welcome you to democracy now! if you look under jeff sessions, can you assess what has happened? a great deal has happened from just oversight of the police department around the country , while yougotiated were head of the division. rights, etc., talk about

what has happened? vanita: in the last six months, it jeff sessions has certainly implemented an anti-civil rights agenda at the justice department, targeting some of the most hop high profile areas we have been engaged in. this enforces all of the civil rights laws and very early on, the attorney general was hacking away and undercutting a long-standing work on lgbt rights and voting rights, indicating a serious retreat from police reform work. and what is remarkable about the list of things that he has been doing is that the attorney general knows how the justice department works. he was a u.s. attorney in years prior and he knows where the levers are. and he knows had a change long-standing positions in cases

we addressed it civil rights laws and he has wasted much time in undercutting a lot of the important civil rights enforcement work of the civil rights division in the six months that he has been there. the police departments and what jeff sessions said he would turn back. explain what you negotiated after michael l brown was gunned down? and the uprising that took place? what you negotiated? i joined the justice department just a couple of weeks after they announced they were opening a probe of the police department. and in my first few months, the investigation was front and center for me and the team working on the investigation. the vast majority of residents

showing how, years and years brown, inichael august of 2014, long before we had police practices completely degrading and undermining trust in l law enforcement in ferguso. where african-american residents were being told to pay exorbitant fines and fees. for growing weeds in the grass and d the like. watch, we negotiated in cleveland, baltimore -- we did an investigation into the chicago police department -- and one of the first things that jeff sessions did was to walk that back. in only through the rhetoric a memo where he would review. to be honest with you, what is

important to know about that is that some of that is not bluster. there are court judges around the country that have the ultimate authority to decide a consensus could be terminated or not. so while the justice department is doing that review, the the inimate fate of these lies the hands of federal judges who take their responsibility very seriously to ensure the institution is enforced jurisdictions that have had breakdowns between the police and the community that they serve. aboutn: could you talk what positition the trump administration has taken on civil asset for church or -- civil asset forfeiture? issue justs is an like the war on drugs and returning his back to the 1980's

with criminal justice policies, it really demonstrates how out theine and how out of sync attorney general is from his own party. civil asset forfeiture is an issue that has garnered widespread bipartisan .ondemnation it involves giving police authority or ability to seize assets from people before they've ever been convicted of a crime. that, order to challenge there is a very laborious process. so there has been a push for the last several years and i would say folks on the right have been very concerned about this from a libertarian standpoint. about reforming these practices and raising the pressure over assets and the like. and one of the things the attorney general dead over the last few months was to do away with that reform and go back to

older practices. that while the federal criminal justice system y's15% of the countries justice system, he has an enormous pulpit. the justice apartment give that money to every jurisdiction in the country. that, minorities can demand things from police department that they are comfortable doing and i think an example of that is prioritizing the local law enforcement being engaged in federal immigration enforcement. and you have seen a really strong pushback on the part of police chiefs around the country who know how devastating that kind of thing can be for the police department's ability to have the trust of everyone in their community.

immigrant women who are refusing to call the police in domestic violence situations, sometimes that becomes a homicide and police chiefs know how dangerous that it is for human safety. and that is why you are seeing the pushback. the notionback on that withholding funds from arece departments that trying to have the trust of everyone in their community, that is not a good thing for policing. amy: we wanted to get your response to the moment several trump shockedn his own joint chchiefs of staff when he issued the three tweets in a row, saying he would be banning trans people from serving in the military. it included pulling people out of the military, others couldn't join the military.

that first tweet simply said that "after consultation with my military experts, please be advised that the united states government --" that first tweet, the military thought he might be the u.s. wasat going to bomb north korea. and what he did say was that "after consultation with my terminals and military experts, please be advised that the u.s. banningnt would be people in the military." cannotansgender people serve in the military. he ended by saying "thank you." vanita: i was disgusted.

consultation" and it turns out that senior leaders were caught completely blindsided by those tweets. tweets with cruel social policy over twitter without the consultation he is claiming to have -- sometimes i theseonder if he tweets things out as a distraction to the serious breakdowns in the white house. this involves real human beings. who have committed to a life of service in the u.s. military that he is now categorically denouncing. and it doesn't even fit with his prior statements on lgbt writes, claiming to be a champion of lgbt writes. this kind of stuff is cool. there is no reason for it.

and what is interesting now is that we know the military says they aren't even sure how this will be implemented. my guess is that they are hoping , the policy byst tweets, they will not get put on the line because how do something like that it implemented? we have a very serious issues and this one just seems like an unnecessary distraction that is very cruel. which is why you saw the bipartisan outrage. amy: so what will happen? vanita: you know, that question is one that i'm asking and that many are asking. there was a lawsuit filed yesterday and i suspect there will be more and i think everyone is waiting to see what will happen. because there has not been any plan or process from a white

house spokesperson. they were asked what this would look like and they had no idea, either. so i think they are in a wait-and-see approach. there are challenges to this policy and why would anyone think this serve the united states of america, that is believe beyond me. nermeen: another issue in which hastrump administration reversed the obama administration policy is voting rights. earlier this year he convened a commission on voting integrity to look into the question of voter fraud. can you comment on the significance of that? it if you think that, too, is a distraction from the serious breakdowns in the white house? is that also an effect of that? vanita: this commission, i

think, we need to be watching this commission very closely. i think there is no question cochairs isof the kris kobach. in arizona and he is a cochair and he has been found by numerous federal courts that he is unlawful. unlawful purging of voters in his own state. there are three other individuals who similarly have long track records trying to restrict the franchise. the former ohio secretary of throughout ballots because they were not printed on the right card stock. whenoncern here is that the president, after the

election, had no proof to substantiate that than he did win the election, that it kind of created the groundwork. kris kobach. he wanted to amend the 1993 voter act for quite some time. he met with the president-elect .n december with a plan in mind and there is no question that this commission is going to try to find evidence and inflate it wildly of claims of voter fraud and try to use that as a pre-way to amend the voter suppression act. and i think it is incumbent on all of us who care about voting rights to make sure that state and local election officials understand that they have a lot of power in making sure that unlawfullyt get purged. it will be important for state and local officials who have had

power, that they understand that communities are watching to make are nott voters unlawfully purged. quickly, before we go. the latest attack on voting rights on monday, purging in frequent voters from thehe election role? can you respond about how significant that is? significantry decision. significant because just under a year ago, the same justice department filed a brief articulating a long-standing vision that states can't pull people off the rolls just for not voting. for an activity. they need to have evidence of a to pullsomething else people off. apathy long-standing position. amy: five seconds. vanita: this justice department

did reverse that. amy: vanita gupta, president and chief executive of the leadership conference on civil and human rights. she was head of the civil rights division at the department of justice in the obama administration. i am amy goodman with nermrmeen [captions made possible by kcet

television] thoroughly about economics. to eat up in the next, one from south africa, the mother dashed another share a try under entry about marx, feminism and light on the planet. this is all happening on the lower calendar show -- laura flanders show. this is where people who say it can't be done to a backskseat to the people who say it can.