11/13/18 11/13/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from m pacifica, this is democracy now! >> we're in a new abnormal. things like this will be part of our future and this won't be the beginning. rings like this and worse. leastst 44ilifornia, at pepeople arere dead anand more n 20200 missing as the state continues to battle the deadliest fire in n califofornia history. all prpresident t trump claims r forestst management, governor browown says climate changee ise

issue. we will go to california for the latest. then we look at the controversy over president trump's selection of matthew whitaker debbie acting attorney general. trumka i did not speak to matt whitaker about it. i don't know matttt whitaker. i can take matt whitaker is a great guy. i know matt whitaker. amy: the state of maryland is headed to court today to challenge the legality of whitaker's appointment. we will get the latest and look at whitaker's ladder -- the accompany is ties to tied to's gaming people out of their life savings. and in the deaeadliest a airstre since 2014. targets include one of gaza's main tv stations. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in california, the death toll from the raging wildfire in northern california reached at least 42 monday, making it the deadliest in the state's

history. the camp fire burned down more than 7200 structures, most of them homes, and razed most of the city of paradise. at least 200 people are still missing. in southern california, at least two people have been killed as the woolsey and hill fires continue to burn in los angeles and ventura counties. on monday, l.a. county fire chief daryl osby responded to trump's tweet over the weekend attacking california's forest management and threatening to cut off federal aid, calling trump's remark hurtful. >> i can tell you that we are in extreme climate change right now. we don't control the climate. we're doing all we can to prevent incidents and mitigate incidents to save lives. amy: after headlines, we'll go to california to discuss the links between california's historic wildfires and climate change. in arizona, democrat kyrsten sinema has won the race for a u.s. senate seat, defeating republican martha mcsally.

she will replace outgoing republican senator jeff flake who is retiring. sinema, who worked on ralph nader's presidential campaign in 2000, will become the first openly bisexual senator. the first female senator from arizona and the first time -- the first of victory a first-time democrat has won a u.s. senate seat in arizona in 30 years. it means democrats will have at least 47 seats in the senate, as results from florida and mississippi remain uncalled. as the senate and gubernatorial recounts continue in the state of florida, president trump said both races be called for the republican candidates, claiming voter fraud without any evidence. trump tweeted -- "the florida election should be called in favor of rick scott and ron desantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. an honest vote count is no longer possible -- ballots

massively infected. must go with election night!" trump's tweet drew outrage and alarm. vermont independent senator bernie sanders responded on twitter -- "donald trump, like his friends in russia, saudi arabia and north korea, is an authoritarian leader who does not believe in democracy. the election officials in florida, georgia and arizona must ignore the rantings of this president and count every vote." in mississippi, republican senator cindy hyde-smith came under increased d pressure mond, as video went viral of a remark she made during a campaign stop earlier this month. in it, hyde-smith is seen campaigning with a cattle rancher, stating -- "if he invited me to a public hanging, i'd be on ththe front row." hyde-smith's opponent for the mississippi senate seat is african-american mike espy. questioned by reporters monday, hyde-smith repeatedly refused to answer questions about her remark. >> we stand by that statementnt.

>> can you expand why you said it echo what you meant by it in my people in the state should not see it as offensive? out a statement yesterday and it is available anand we stand by that statemen. >> [inaudible] lynching? >> i put out a statement yesterday and that is all i'm going to say. amy: mississippi was once considered the lynching state of the united states. hyde-smith and espy will move to a runoff later this month after neither candidate gained the 50% of votes needed to secure the senate seat. the daily beast is reporting ice is holding -- imprisoning a record 44,000 people, an all time high. the figure is 4000 more people than congress has granted funding for ice to hold. ice and the department of homeland security have not responded to requests to explain where the additional money was coming from. in september, democratic senator jeff merkley revealed the trump administration transferred nearly $10 million from fema to ice over the summer. this comes as "the washington post" is reporting that

president trump is preparing to oust homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen. she came under intense fire this summer over the trump administration's family separation policy, with democratic lawmakers demanding her resignation. trump cacanceled a visit with nielsen to texas this week to visit troops at the u.s.-mexico border after trump deployed thousands of soldiers to counter this ahead of the arrival of several central american caravans. this comes as human rights groups are seeking to halt trump's recent order barring immigrants who enter the u.s. between legal ports of entry from seeking asylum. details are emerging about the audio recordings that reportedly capture the last moments of the slaiain saudi journalist jamal khashoggi's life and could direct with implicate crown prince mohammed bin salman in his murder. a member of the saudi kill team responsible for the assassination at the saudi consulate in istanbul, reportedly can be heard saying on the phone, "tell your boss"

and "the deed was done" after khashoggi was murdered. the call is believed to be between maher abdulaziz mutreb, one of the saudi agents at the consulate and an aide to the crown prince. on monday, canadian prime minister justin trudeau confirmed canadian intelligence officials had heard thee recordings of khashoggi's death ter turkisish president recep tayyip erdogan said over the -- said he would share the recordings with the u.s., france, germany saudi arabia, , and others. meanwhile reporter from the , a turkish daily, pro-government sabah newspaper, told al jazeera that khashoggi's final words, as heard on the recording were -- "i'm suffocating. take this bag off my head, i'm claustrophobic." amnesty international has withdrawn the ambassador of conscience award -- its highest honor -- from burmese leader aung san suu kyi in response to the military atrocities and ongoing persecution of burma''s rohingya minority. in a letter to suu kyi, amnesty international secretary general kumi naidoo writes --

"you have chosen to overlook and excuse the brutal oppression and crimes against humanity committed by the military against the rohingya and your office has actively shielded the military from international scrutiny and accountability. we have also been appalled to witness your administration spread hate narratives against minorities, fostering rather than challenging discrimination and hostility." this comes as the repatriation of rohingya refugees from bangladesh back to burma is scheduled to start later this week. many human rights groups warn that burma is not able to guarantee safety to returning refugees and many are reportedly fleeing camps to avoid having to return to burma. in gaza, israeli air attacks killed six palestinians a day after a botched raid by israel prompted deay fightingng. the air strikes hit several residential and commercial buildings, including the a al-aa television studios. israel says 140 euro man was

killed when n a rocket fired by gazan militants struck his home in southern israel. israel says 70 other israelis were wounded by palestinian rocket fire, marking at the worst violence since israel'ss 201414 at assault on gaza. we will have morere on gaza latr in the broadcast with muhammad shehada. in the dememocratic repuicic of congo, a an outbreak of the deay ebola virus has become the worst in the country's history. congo's health ministry says nearly 200 people have died of the infectious hemorrhagic fefever. about half the victims are from the city of beni, where recent attacks by armededroups fighghtg for control of the drc's mineral wealth have slslowed efforts by medical workers to slow the spread of ebola. "the new york times is reporting north korea is moving had with its mode -- ballistic missile at 16 hidden bases that have been identified in new commercial satellite images. "thehe times" cited d photos tan

from the company digital globe, which appear to show activity around secretive mountain bases. but the photos cited by "the times" and then widely reported elsewhere were in fact taken last march -- about two-and-a-half months before north korean leader kim jong-un met with president trump in singapore and pledged to disarm his nuclear arsenal. the vatican has ordered u.s. bishops to halt a planned vote on a range of measures designed to address the ongoing child sexual abuse crisis in the catholic church. the order came as over roman 350 catholic bishops gathered in baltimore for their annual conference where they were setet to debate and vote on n the reforms. survivors and sexual abuse advocates condemned the move by the vatican. this is anne barrett doyle of the advocacy group bishopaccountability.org. >> i am stunned and disappointed at the lack of courage beingng shown by the conference. children american

being hurt. thesee are american survivors. these bishops are american citizens. i know that the answer to the holy city, butut there is a bigr and furtive here, which is -- imperative here, which is children and victims need them to step forth and start being responsible leaders of this institution. amy: conservative writer, conspiracy there is -- theorist, and roger stone associate, jerome corsi said monday he expects to be indicted by special counsel robert mueller. corsi told listeners of his daily web show that he had given over 40 hours of interviews to mueller's team and had been recently told he would be indicted, possibly for lying. at least nine associates of long-time trump adviser roger stone have been questioned by mueller's team as they investigate possible collusion of russian agents with the trump campaign during the 2016 presidential campaign. former first lady michelle obama's highly anticipated memoir has been released. in it, michelle obama recounts

how trump's birther conspiracy husband andinst her its "underlying bigotry and xenophobia" endangered her family. she also takes aim at trump's sexism in the book and talks about the challenges of being the first black first lady of the united states. the obamas reportedly received $65 million for a joint book deal last year, of which michelle obama's "becoming" is the first release. "the wall street journal" reports retail giant amazon has selected a pair of cities to host its new, expanded headquarters -- crystal city in arlington, virginia, and long island city in queens, new york. amazon's decision came after a 14 month search that saw cities around the u.s. promise tax breaks, taxpayer-funded infrastructure, and business-friendly ordinances in a an effort to win what amazon says will be $5 billion in new investment and thousands of jobs. the watchdog group good jobs first has blasted the new york and virginia deals, writing -- "citizens have no idea what their elected officials have promised to a company headed by the richest person on earth.

but we do know that both deals were negotiated in secret, without any public input." the stock market took a steep plunge monday, with the dow jones industrial average dropping 600 points, driven in part by a drop in tech stocks. president trump took to twitter to blame democrats, writing -- "the prospect of presidential harassment by the dems is causing the stock market big headaches!" and the famed comics writer stan lee, creator or co-creator of some of marvel's most well-known and beloved characters, died at the age of 95 in los angeles . stan lee has been credited with helping to propel marvel comics to the world's top publisher of comics. he served as editor-in-chief and later publisher for marvel and created or co-created the widely popular characters black panther, spider-man, the fantastic four, and the incredible hulk, among many others. he was embroiled in some controversy over his career as some claimed he stole credit from other artists, focusing the spotlight on himself at the

expense of his co-creators. in 1968, stan lee penned an essay about the threat of racism, writing -- "bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today. but, unlike a team of costumed super-villains, they can't be halted with a punch in the snoot, or a zap from a ray gun. the only way to destroy them is to expose them -- to reveal them for the insidious evils they really are." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. in california, at least 44 people are dead and more than 200 remain missing, as three -- two massive wildfires fueled by easterly winds and a historic drought continue to rage. in northern california's butte county, the camp fire has become the state's deadliest fire in history after the blaze swept

through the town of paradise which chilled 42 people and destroying morore than 6500 hom. recoveryry workers say some victims were reduced to bone fragments, raising the prospect of a much larger death toll, as some 228 people remain missing. in southern california, a quarter-million residents of los angeles and ventura counties were ordered to evacuate the woolsey fire, including the entire city of malibu and parts of the san fernando valley. the fire, which has killed at least two people, tore through ocean-side homes as panicked residents sought to escape through a massive traffic jam along the pacific coast highway. the woolsey fire began near the santa susana field laboratory, site of a partial nuclear meltdown nearly 60 years ago. california's department of toxic substances control said it did not believe the flames kicked up any radioactive materials. on sunday, governor jerry brown

said the fires were driven by climate change and that california needs to learn to adapt. >> we're in a new abnormal. and things like this will be part of our future. this won't be the beginning. it will be things like this and worse. amy: the fires are so large they can be clearly seen from space. smoke and ash have left millions of californians exposed to air quality rated "unhealthy" or "very unhealthy" levels, with residents of los angeles,, sacramento, and the bay area warned against spending time outdoors. president trump p responded to e fifires by blaming california officicials and threatenening tt off dederal aid. early saturday, he tweeted -- "there is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in california except that forest management is so poor. billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. remedy now, or no more fed payments!"

it drew outrage from first responders and state officials. this is los angeles county fire department chief, daryl osby. >> we are extreme climate change right now. we don't control the climate. we're doing all we canterbury event incidents and mitigate incidents and save lives. statemently find that in satisfactory and it is great hurtful fofor all first responds that are putting their lives on the line to protect liveses and property. amy: following a wave of criticism, trump approved an expedited major disaster declaration for california monday. unlocking federal funds and resources for those affected by the fires. for more, we go directly to thousand oaks, california, where wewe're joined by climate scientist glen macdonald who, along with hisis fily,y, had to evacacuate his southern calilifa home on frfridayo o escape thehe woolsey fire.

macdonald is the john muir memorial chair of geography, director of the white mountain research center, and a ucla distinguished professor. professor, welcome to democrcray now! so you had to move out of your home. i mean, thousand oaks has been hit so hard. first, the massacre of 12 people at the country music bar and then as soon as that happens, people have to clear outcome have to evacuate for this tourist take fire -- horrific fire. i am so sorry for all you're dealing with. can you talk about t the fire, about trump sayi it t isad forest management, and the governor saying this is climate change. >> firirst, thank you very much for having me on the show today. it i is a pleasure t to speak wh you. it haseen n trmatitic for the commmmunity. t to a and i were asksked vigil for r the victctims of the shooting.

we came home that evening and at 11:20, w we got ththe firstt cal from the emergency alert system here in veventura county telling us we were undnder voluntary evacuation.. we could l look to the ridge lie and see it was glowing red. i knew it was just a matter ofof time, so we bebegan to p pack. su enough, less than an hour later, we got the call for mandatory evacuation. so it has been a rough time here. about the fire, you know, in lateways this is a typical fafall, early wintnter fire evet with a very, very high sin and a in a winds -- sent speedsds. at a time e when our fuels a are bone dry. inse sorts of fires are dissssipated. they w would be anticipated without climate change. whwhat climate c change is doin, since thes we see

year 2000, we have had about 15 of our 20 largest recorded wildfires here in the state -- we have good records -- abobout5 of t those 2 20 have occurrerede the year 2 2000. and that has reaeally been l li, cocoincidentalal, with record temperatures, inincreasing temperatures that we see in this century. in those high tempmperatures, ty do several things. of course they promote high evaporation rates in the s summr when we are t t gettg g any replenisishment ofof water for e fuels thomas of the fuels become super, super dryry. they plolong our f fire season. theyey startrt it eaearlier in e springng and they prolong it lar into thehe autumn and into t the winter. the governor is quite correct. we could anticipate the sort of events will occur in the future, and they will become worse. in fact, modeling, trying to look at what it will look like at 2100, is pretty universal inn saying that our fire frequencies

are going to increase. maybe we will have at least one monster just 77% increase in fire activity like this by the time we get to the end of the century. so these temperatures are driving things and we can attribute those to increased greenhouse gases. but they are not the only thing. again, we would have these fires regardless of what is going on with the climate. big.hey might not be as they might not be as frequent. they might not be as difficult a fight. juan: professor, given the increased density of population, not only -- well, throughout all of california, but especially southern california, what about the issue of how people get out of harm's way? the problems that have been shown over and over again in terms of evacuation with highways becoming actually ways for momore people to dieie as they areryining to

escape? >> right. one of the issues we see in california wildfires is the human environment, how we plan our communities and build them. you have to remember, they are fire overnight percent of the fires in the state are ignited by humans. this is not all firebug that stuff. out, butg&e line going we cleared machine throwing up a spark, someone's car breaking down and they go to the side of the road and starts a fire. the vast majority are started by people. as we have more people the state and more people living in the wild land urban interface is own , we can anticipate that we will ignition sources, but we can also anticipate that more people are in harms way. we are not going to be able to not have these fires -- pretty much anywhere you build at laura linney and in this state, you're going to be in the fire zone. you will have fuels there as the natural vegetation will burn. so how do you protect yourself

in a fire it gets going? if we take a look, you k know, e deadliest fire that happened that was not a fire crew-related death, but of civilians, you go to 1991, the tunnel fire in oakland where you had some 25 people lost their lives. a number of them lost their lives in their car trying to flee the fire on congested roads in the hillside. televisa malibu, my understanding is that at this point were in a car trying to flee the fire. i am sure many of the fatalities that we find in the curtis region will be similar. take toe roads, if you paying a canyon, one way out each direction, very, very narrow, small roads. you will never get everybody out there in time unless you get them out well before the fire occurs. i t think in ventura county, the

alert system to tell people to get out, and los angeles county to tell people to get out, , thy really worked this time.. if we look at the size of this fire, we look at the number of structures whichch were destroyd -- over 700 i believe at this point -- we look at geographic scope, it is terrible that we had fatalities, but we had a very, very small number. people obeyed andnd our first reresponders were vevery good dn hehelping ththose people that didn't. but rereally, it is early warni, but also people believing that and evacuating -- whichch is wht my wife and i did. amy: the woolsey fire began near a field laboratory, site of a partial nuclear meltdown. ago.s nearly 60 years the california department of toxic substances control said it did not believe the flames kicked up any radioactivive materials.s. do you believe that? >> again, i sibley have not

looked at any of the data from that so i'm not going to, in one way of or another on that.t. i'm going to go with their scientists. if they believe that at this point, i think that would be where i would be. of course, i would want to see due diligence. honestly, some monitoring of what was kicked up. new clear waste is not the only thing up in thehe area. the disposed of a lot of rocket fuel and things like that. there are other pollulunts that are up there. there's a pretty robust monitoring program. i think we need to see. i think we need to see how that may have exacerbated some of the issues with the senate susanna test grounds. juan: professor, i'm wondering if you could comment on the federal response. i'm thinking i see thousands of u.s. army troops sent by president trump to the border to protect supposedly help protect the border against the caravan of central american refugees. at the president's response to

the california fires is basically to condemn the way california has been handling forest management. >> i think that was very disheartrtening to see their president -- i think essentially it is attempting to score some cheap poticacal points on the backs of people e who are suffering. on the backs of people, both stat and federal a agency peopl, who are really battling g hard these fires a and doingng a tremendous jobob. enough gooood cannot be said abt the first resesponders here andn northern california. instead of the-- president viving our bacack and showing some empathy, sosome sympathy or even some basic understanding of what is going on here, it was disheartening. i think you have heard the responses to that from the andnd local of state firefighting officials. i think they were disismayed by it. and it was outrightt wrong. it really betrayed a a lack of

understanding. there isis no forest management ththat you're going to put in place for the chaparral or coastal state scrubub vegetation burning do h here or g grasslan. ththese are not rerests. they arere n trerees my understanding f from the paradise firire is a lot of that was carried by g grass.. some of ththose forests have ben naturally thinned that probably no prerescriptive treatment woud have done much, either. fromis my understanding what i have read. the prpresident's wos s were wrg. if you would maybe make a visit here into the types s of fuelsld how our communinity's are configured relative toto those fuel m maybee e woulbe more in line. i'm not optimistic am a but -- amy: what you sayay to presididt trump about climate change, a well-known climate changee denier? going to keep paying

the price unless we start getting a hahandle on ththis. at leaeast start having sosome y proactctive adaptation at a federal level. we certainly are doing here in the state. amy: glen macdonald, thank you for being with us. he said. john muir memorial chair of geography, director of the white mountain research center and a ucla distinguished professor. has studied climate change and the causes and impacts of wildfires. with his family there in southern california to escape the woolsey fire. you can also go to our website democracynow.org to see our ininterview with incarcerated firefighters. about one quarter of the firefighters are prisoners. they make one dollar an hour fighting the fires. we visited one of their camps and spoke to them. democracynow.org. we will be back in 30 seconds. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we continue to look at the raging wildfires in california where at least 44 people are dead and more than 200 remain missing as to massive fires across the state continue to rage. the camp fire has become the state's deadliest in history after the blaze swept through paradise, killing 42 people, destroying 7200 structures, nearly 6500 of them homes. california governor jerry brown said sunday the fires were driven by climate change and

that california needs to learn to adapt. amy: we stay in california, we go to berkeley, where we're , executiveay boeve director of 350 action, the political arm of the climate organization 350.org. can you talk about where you are in northern california and what 350.org come a 350 action is to many in response to president trump sing this is gross forced mismanagement and continuing to deny climate change. >> thank you so much for having me and for devoting so much attention to these devastating fires. it was very heartbreaking hear from glen about what their community has gone through. we are hearing similar stories throughout our local network of 350 groups throughout the state. in the bay area, i can say the air quality this morning seems to be a little bit better. but for the last few days, people have been staying indoors, wearing masks.

the sky is hazy and doesn't feel anything like what the bay area to berkeley is like in this time of the year. i remember we were on your show just a year ago talking about the napa and sonoma fires, which is where i grew upup. we are really daunted by the reality of the climate impacts that are facing us. this is what the scientists warned us. we know that every disaster is a compound event, and there are many risk factors. climate change makes all of thte risk factors worse for somethihg like a forest fire. dryer conditions, stronger winds, the drought we're living through has contributed to a fire seaeason that isis longer d more devastating. and all of the stories we're learning about the entirire community's wiped off the map, the tragedies unfolding around us. we're so grateful for all of the work that is being done in this state and all over the world for people w who are l living throuh climate disasters. but these are short-term

remedies. i can't emphasizize that enoughn the show this morning. that w we actuaually must turn r attention on a proactive, long-term solutions. we know what t to do about clime change. it is not a mystery. we k know we have toto transitin our economy also -- off of fossil fuel and to 100% renewable energy. we know the transition is going to be good for so manyny reason. it is going to put millions of people back to work building the green economy that we know we need. it is gogoing to impact the peoe who have been most impacted by climate the us far. so to say this is just one fire season after another without looking at the long-term, does not do us any good. so we're turning our attention to calling on elected officials, calling on the new members of congress, to really advocate for this new green deal that we need and to put us in a much safer position from these rising climate disasters. juan: i want to ask you come in

terms of the issue of the long-term solutions in the face of total and action from the federal government, i'm wondering if you could talk about the lawsuiuit with the hep of our children's trust, with a group of young people suing the government over its failure to act on climate change? >> we are so celebrating the work of these brave, young actitivists who have brought ths incredible suit against the federal government. they just received a stay from the ninth circuit court just recently. ing momentum. gett they are claiming that the federal government's in action on climate is putting a future at risk, and they're using the courts to demonstrate that. and the courts, not only with climate, but with so many important issues -- migration, mass incarceration -- the courts are becoming one of our last lines of defenses against this

reckless administration. not only this suit, but a number of cities have brought litigation against the oil industry for climate damages. the city of san francisco has done this and numerous others around the country and increasingly around the world. we know who is responsible for climate change. that is not a mr., either. ththe solutions are clear and te perpetrators are clear. people are statarting to hold te fossil fuel industry, but. amy: the kids case around, change thahat started under oba, has been given the go-ahead to proceed by the supreme court. i also want to ask about another judicial decision, the routing of the trump administration around the keystone xl pipeline. on thursday, federal judge in montana temporary halting the construction of this controversial pipeline, which would carry oil from canada's tar since region in alberta to refineries as far away as the gulf. the court's decision requiring the trump administration to more thoroughly review the potential negative impacts of the pipeline on the surrounding environment

and climate change. president obama halted the construction, which is s being built by transcanada come e aftr is being built by transcanada come after years of mass protest. he stopped it in 2014. one of his first official act as president, trump reversed the ther shortly after and gave greenlight for the dakota access pipeline and keystone xl. this is an amazing judicial decision, may. >> it is a huge blow to the pipeline fights all over the world where people are fighting to keep fossil fuels in the ground. this was an incredible victory. the indigenous peoples, the farmers and ranches along the route and all of their allies, or celebrating this. no one is when to stop keeping up the pressure, but this is a massive setback. trump and transcanada will have to go back to the drawing board and show their work and demonstrate, frankly, what will be incredibly difficult because

we know tar sands are one of the leading drivers of climate change and we know the pipelines out of the tar sands are what help exploit them. and not only that, but the decision also requires that there be evidence about the cultural impact of this pipeline. and so there is a lot of aspects that are going to challenge its future. there was a lot of hard work to help make this happen. juan: if you could talk briefly about a couple of defeats that occurred in the elections last week. in colorado and washington state. pushed byives advocates seeking to address climate change? >> we went into last week's election clear that the fossil fuel industry is greeting the election of a lot of republicans and houses of congress. we were trying to really do some good work to flip the house and to elect candidates who will

actually take this issue seriously. that was definitely something that was of focus, but there were some real setbacks when it came to ballot initiatives. we were paying attention to a lot of them, including the ones you mentioned. in colorado, what was at stake was a setback that would protect communities from tracking wells being your their homes and schools. in washington, what was at stake was an actual means on climate solutions around putting a price on carbon. oil poured in big tens of millions of dollars. in cololorado, 41 million dolla. in washington, 31 point $5 million. in colorado, we were outspent 40 to one a big oil. in both cases, it is crucial to know when those campaigns began, the public was overwhelmingly supportive of these initiatives. it when you start to dwarf the political process and prove it in oil money, these are the outcomes that we have. that is why we are so focused on

the need to change the social life of this industry who caused climate change, they know they caused it, they lie about it, and they profit from it. and we hear the stories of these massive disasters, and this industry has to be held accountable. while we did suffer some defeats in those fights, the lines of the battles are increasingly clear and the movement is strong and resolves to fight. amy: we want to thank you so much may boeve, executive , director of 350 action, the political arm of the climate organization 350.org. democracy now! will be in poland or the week of december 10 covering the u.n. climate summit. tune in to our special coverage. this is democracy now! when we come back, we go to gaza. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: the death toll in gaza has risen to at least six after israel launched its heaviest air strikes on the region since 2014 targeting scores of buildings including a tv station al-aqsa tv. israeli air strikes also rereportedly hit dozens of home. militants in gaza responded by launching hund rockets into israel. one personon was reported kille, a paleststinian n man in a ashk. 16 others were injured.. it includes at least two w were criticically woundeded.

ththe recent escalatioion begagn afafter a team of israeli commandos drovove into the southern gaza city of khanan younis sunday y in a clandestine raid that killed seven hamas members, including a commander. israel said one of its soldiers had been killed in an exchange of fire before israel called in tank fire and airstrikes while the commandos escaped back to israel. amy: well, for more, we're joined by muhammad shehada, a writer and activist from the gaza strip, writes for haaretz, the forward and other publications. welcome to democracy now! can you explain to us what you understand is happening in gaza as youou join us from sweden n e you are a ststudent? >> it started with israel during hamasainst the t top leader. the worst and most inexcusable time one could e ever think abot them only a few days after hamas anand israel supposedly y reachn understanding to restore calm

and reproduce progress to gaza. hamas retell a dated with withon -- retaliated ththe and to draw a rered line r israelel thahat it cannot do ast may please in t the gaza strtri. israelel responded immediately with an explicit implemementatin of the oxford definition of terrorism, basically terrorizing gazan civilian population as an instrument too achieve political gain. essentially, sent a strong message to hamas. the bombed buildings are usually predesignated targets. for israel's choice of the next target is carefully calibrated in accordance and desired magnitude of pain it wishes to leave gaza with in order to teach a lesson. so that when people wake up, they see the destruction, rebel

everywhere. it would be presumably terrorized back into proclivity. this morning a senior or force commander said the nature of the targets "a completely different from anything we have known in the past.t." these targets are high-rise buildings in the city centers. about theou talk bombing of the tv station in gaza? >> basically, israel claims to have warned people in advavance the building is going to be targeted. however, it t doesn't make it ay better to give people a a choice between losing their constructions or homes or losing their lives. today, for instance, people were awake at 4:30 in the morning to an israeli phone call saying you have only one minute to leave

your homes or else you will die inside them. afterwards, a tower in the very heart of gaza was obliterated from existence, reduced to rubble and misery. that construction including seven others, including the tv station compound, used to house tends of civilian families, including kindergartners -- k kindergartes and oththers. what we're seeing is israel is trying to teach gazans a lesson not to walk out of line, not to be loud about -- by inflicting the severest the most traumatic pain it could afford to do. juan: could you talk about the timing of this assassination attempt that touched off the slate troubles, especially in light of the fact there appeared to be at least some potential

for restarting some kind of negotiations between israel and the palestinians and the involvement of other powers in the region, in some sort of mediation? >> well, gaza has shown extraordinary commitment, overwhelming nonviolence over the last six months, demanding the right to life at the five meter fence that in traps the enclave. eventually, israel decided if they are distant from the fence, in return, gaza would be given an increase in the influx of fuel and money to pay the salariries of government officis and increase elelectricity daily population.'s however, once the understanding settled in, israel ceased -- saw the opportunity to meet elite target hamas, thinking t they could not retaliate with the

interest of maintaining the cease-fire. we are s saying, apparerently, international efforts to restore progogress in the e gaza strip t are being exterminateded from existence by t the israelili persistencnce to play y a politl game other than caring for t the humanitarian crisis inin gaza. amy: can you give us the context? when you talk about the last six month a peaceful protest since march 30, over 200 palestinians have been killed by is really foforces in gaza -- israeli fors in gaza. 15,000, 18 thousand injured, more than 5000 of them shot by israeli soldiers. can you talk about these o ongog protest and what the demands are >> basically, gaza has been rendered unlivable by

by the e united nationons. united nations officials came ouout recently to say we have bn optimistic about this s deadlin. gazaza is already in fact unlivable. if you look at the humanitarian situation in gaza, you have an ever-increasing segment of extreme poverty. about 80% of the population depends on food packages and humanitarian aid to survive. you have 97% of the waterer unft for human consumption, totally polluted. for this, gazans decided to rise against their slow deaths and take initiative with her own hands. people have been marching to the gaza waters for more than six months every friday. and on other days of the week to demand the right to life, and demand the blockade shall be removed. refused to and again of knowledge the basic fact that people in gaza are caged in a toxic slump from birth to death,

were their being suffocated out of hope, out of life, out of any sense for progress. bordershey came to the to bring it down, to bring the bars that surround gaza and besiege it into slow death down. that is basically what they were demanding, that they shall no longer suffer at t this time in their history. amy: youour final words?s? we have about 30 seconds. on the situation and what you feel needs to be done? guardian a couple of years ago opened an op-ed by saying palestinian nonviolence shouould be mebyby global non-silence. ifever, what we have here is gazans do not throw rockets or improvised project roles, nobody listens to them whatsoever. once these projectiles begin to fly over israel, i immediately e

internatational committee is concerned with restoringng tranquilly. however, what is made synonymous to t tranquilility is restoringe statusquo that led to the explosion of these troubles in the first place. every suffocating status quo. t that is being repeated over and over again. what gaza needs in order too assuagage existiting problems,, includining securirity problemss the veryry minimum of human dignity. they need to live as other people around the world, clear and sisimple. amy: we want to o thank yoyou fr being with us, muhammad shehada, writer and activist from the gaza strip and a student of development studies at lund university, sweden. he writes for haaretz, the forward, and other publications. this is democracy now! we turn back here to the united states. juan: controversy is growing over president trump's selection of matt whitaker to serve as acting attorney general

following the ouster of jeff sessions. the state of maryland is heading to court today to challenge the legality of whitaker's appointment. maryland contends that deputy attorney general rod rosenstein should have been named acting attorney general instead of whitaker, who was not confirmed by the senate for his previous staff toef of sessions. meanwhile, pressure is growing on whitaker to recuse himself from overseeing special counsel robert mueller's investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 election. politico reports whitaker is now consulting with ethics officials regarding possible recusal due to his past comments on the mueller probe and his close relationship with former trump campaign official sam clovis who has testified before a federal grand jury as part of the probe. amy: questions are also being raised about whitaker's past including his role at company called world patent marketing. last year, the federal trade commission shut down the company after a number of inventors, including military veterans,

said the company cheated them out of their life savings. as acting attorney general, whitaker will oversee the fbi, which is still investigating the company. whitaker is also facing criticism for his remarks about the role of the judiciary. he is on record saying the supreme court wrongly decided the landmark 1803 case marbury v. madison, which gave courts the power to strike down unconstitutional law. we go now to washington, d.c., where we're joined by ian millhiser, a senior fellow at the center for american progress action fund and the editor of thinkprogress justice. his recent piece on whitaker is headlined, "this 2014 interview of trump's acting attorney general is beyond belief." ian.in what it is, >> sure. when you read that interview, the impression you get a settlement was not very sophisticated, who is sometimes making contradictory statements two or three sentences apart,

but who really wants to show how radical he is. he comes out against climate, a climate changed in our, comes out against obama care over and over again. that i focused on and a lot of people focused on says two things. the first he comes out against mulberry the medicine, likike yu said, is the supreme court sayingng the supreme courtrt is allowed to strike walls down as unconstitutional. in the two sentences later, he says oh, the new deal era, the supreme court should have struck down things like social security and the minimum wage. there is a lot of things going on most of but one of the things going on is those are just two inconsistent statements and if this guy had the sort of organized mind that you look for in a potential cabinet officiai, he wouould not be making those o statements. juan: what about the issue of whether it is constitutional for president trump even to appoint him asas attorney general?

>> at think there's a strong argument he cannot serve at least as acting attorney general. the constitution refers to two types of officers who were appointed by the president. principal officers are officers who are the most senior officers . they answer directly to the president. they typically have tremendouous authority. these are your cabinet secretaries. it also refers to inferior officers, who are the people who answer to a principal officer or to another inferior officer. the attorney general is a principal officer. the constitution says principal officers have to be confirmed by the senate. i think there's a very strong legal argument here that this guy cacannot serve as acting attorney general and that trump is to find someone else who serves in a senate confirmed role. amy: and his comments -- talk about the theheory in t the schl he comes from that says the judiciary is not co-equal branch of government with the executive? giving whitaker

a bit too much credit to say he comes from any particular school of thought. the only thread that i can see throughoutwhitaker's writing and his statements is he thinks republicans should always win. he sort of a vomits talking points that have been used in the past to justify republican victories. like many of his statements, they are inconsistent with each other. he will say in one breath that this or brink or should i be deciding constitutional cases that all and in the next breath, say y the supreme coururt should have struck k down a bunch of ls that he thingsgs are unconstititutional. he doeoesn't appear to have any driving legal theory. he just says things he has h hed thatat lead to the outcomes he likes. amy: can you talk about, the story is his friend and ally clovis who is a trump campaign manager in iowa told him to get on tv, star speaking out against the mueller probe, you will get

trump's attention and then you will get appointed. and so that is exactly what he did. he said mueller defund the mueller, you could do anything you want to shut it down and he becomes the attorney general. comment on that and trump is saying he doesn't even know the guy, though clearly has been to the white house scores of times a trump himself said that he knew him in a previous comment. >> unfairly, he was trump's spy. is literally on the phone with trump giving information about what is going on in the justice department. that's go back to two years ago when trump came to washington, he did not know very many people. so his original list of appointees were this hodgepodge of people the republican party told him to appoint, a few campaign surrogates -- there is actually a shocking number of government jobs, including a bunch of an basilar ships that are still open because trump does not know who to appoint to those jobs. shows think the whitaker,

is after two years in washington, he is starting to learn who his cronies are, starting to learn the people are who are absolutely reliable, who won't put the rule of law over the role of donald trump. he is tried to get those people into key jobs. i think k that is what is drivig this appointment is that trump has been here in d.c. long enough that he knows, oh, that guy right there, if i make him attorney general, he will do whatever i want. juan: what you know about whitaker's past legal record? can you could hear him in some ways as the person he supposedly temporary succeeding, jeff sessions? a terrible,ions is racist human being, but he had a resume for al cabinet official. he was the u.s. attorney in alabama. he was attorney general of alabama. united states senator for many years. that is the sort of experience you normally look for in someone who has that kind of job. it also includes some very

serious legal experiences. when you look at whitaker, whitaker did serve as u.s. heorney but it turns out probably got that role because he was one of the officials the bush administration appointed to bring politically motivated prosecutions. his record before he was attorney general -- he spent a lot of time as a personal injury attorney, which is not the sort of resume line y you normamallyk for in a potential u.s. attorney or in a potential attorney geneneral. so he is kind of this mediocre lawyer who doesn't understand very much about the constitution, who doesn't know enough to know he sometimes is saying things in the same paragraph that contradict each other. but what he has done throughout hiss career, both in the bush administration and trump administration, show that he is willing to do the dirty work that the republican party once done, and that is been very good for his carereer. go, theally, before we latest news in arizona, democrat or sensitive has won the race

for u.s. senate. sitting republican former u.s. air force pilot colonel martha mcsally. she replaces outgoing republican senator jeff flake who is retiring. she worked for ralph nader's presidential campaign in 2000 becomes a first woman elected to the senate from arizona, the first democrat to win a senate seat from arizona a and 30 yeye, the first openly bisexual senator. talk about the significance of this victory. >> it is a big deal to see a democrat elected from alabama. this is -- not alabama, arizona. this is barry goldwater state. she is a very savvvvy politicia. i've beeeen watching her since e was in the state senate and she is very, very good at reading her electorate. i will say one other thing, which is it is good news for democrats they got this arizona seat, but the trend we're seeing in the senate is very frightening because each state gets two senators regardrdless f how big g it is so wyoming gets the same number of senators as california, even though wyoming has 168th of the people of

california. republicans tend to be in smaller states and democrats and urban regions. the trend we're seeing in the senate is very, very frightening. it leaeads to the point wheree repupublicans may have permanent control over the body. you just don't want one party to have permanent control over an entire hououse of the legislatu. amy: then you have martha mcsally,y, while shehe lost, she kyle whol - -- senator wanted to retire could step down and then she could step in. there would be two women representing the statate. ian millhiser, thank you for being here. senior fellow at the center for american progress action fund and the editor of thinkprogress justice. that does it for our show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning.

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