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tv   PBS News Hour  PBS  March 19, 2024 6:00pm-7:01pm PDT

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>> good evening. >> on the newshour tonight, and immigration ruling from the supreme court means texas police can arrest and deport migrants. >> experts warn of famine in
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gaza as a rift opens between israeli prime minister netanyahu can the biden white house. >> and how influencers on social media are playing an outsized role in the presidential election. >> a lot of people are persuaded daily by stuff on tiktok. they will see a clip of biden or trump saying something and that will change their minds. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> these are people trying to change the world. dart dubs have this energy that energizes me. i'm thriving by helping others everyday. people who know know bdo. ♪ >> the ongoing support of these individuals and these institutions and friends of the
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newshour including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. >> the john s and james r knight foundation fostering informed and engaged communities. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> welcome to the newshour.
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the u.s. supreme court has cleared the way for texas to enforce a controversial immigration law for now. the law allows state officials to arrest and deport migrants suspected of crossing the border illegally. >> the three liberal justices dissented with justice sonia sotomayor warning the court gives a green light to a lull that will upend the long-standing federal state balance of power and sew chaos. challenges to the law are not over at the justices sent the case back to a lower court. the newshour supreme court analyst marcia coyle has been following the decision and joins us now. the will allow texas to enforce for now the contentious new law that gives local police the authority to arrest migrants. how did the justices arrive at this ruling? >> first of all, it appears to be a 6-3 decision not to grant the biden administration a
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temporary pause on the law taking effect. the only one wrote in the majority was justice barrett and she was joined by justice kavanaugh. her bottom line seems to be it is premature for the supreme court to act on the administration's request at this time while the lower federal appellate court, the fifth circuit, still had before it the question of whether to pause the law while an appeal goes forward in the fifth circuit. >> this law goes into effect as the litigation continues in the lower courts. what happens next? what are the implications? >> the lower federal appellate court believe has scheduled arguments for the first week in april on whether it should pause the law while an appeal goes forward. the law would immediately take effect now. texas would begin to implement it. it allows law enforcement officials to arrest undocumented immigrants who cross the border illegally peered at allows them
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to -- cross the border illegally. it allows them to deport them. it is quite a departure from what federal law has historically given the responsibility to the federal government. texas on the other hand claims the wall mirrors the federal law and many states cooperate to >> that is supreme court analyst marcia coyle. thanks as always. >> my pleasure, geoff. ♪ >> in the days other headlines, president biden kicked off a three-day swing across the west with a focus on winning hispanic voters. finally to dallas and houston. former president trump stirred new for saying jewish voters who
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support democrats hate israel and judaism. the nation's top jewish official chuck schumer called it unadulterated anti-semitism. the candidates have both clinched their nominations but other races are getting attention. republicans in ohio are picking a candidate to try to pick up a u.s. senate seat. in heavily democratic chicago voters are choosing a nominee for the second second largest skeeters office. the winner is all but assured of election in november. congressional negotiators worked to flesh out spending bills needed to avert a partial government shutdown this weekend. the agreed on the overall package covering the pentagon, homeland security and other departments. senate leaders welcomed the deal but said time is running out. >> there is a lot of work to do in the coming days. if both parties proceed in the same manner we did two weeks ago, quickly, constructively and without a necessary partisan
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dithering, i'm hopeful we can finish the process without causing a lapse in government services. >> the spending bills are the final ones needed to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. former trump trade advisor peter navarro reported to federal prison today in miami. he is to serve four months for refusing to cooperate with the congressional january 6 investigation. he condemned the justice system today at a news conference. then he was driven into the prison complex and officials confirmed he is now in custody. in mississippi two former sheriff's deputies were sentenced and the racist torture of two black men. one defendant got 20 years in federal prison. the other guy more than 17 years. six former officers admitted to their roles in sexually and physically abusing the victims. several belonged to a group known as the goo]n school -- the good squad. defense sexually -- defense
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secretary lloyd austin said washington remains committed to the effort. austin joined counterparts. he said the united states will not let ukraine fail. >> i leave here today fully determined to keep u.s. security and assistance flowing. that is a matter of survival and sovereignty for ukraine. it is a matter of hono. . putin is watching. the world is watching. history is watching. >> last week, the pentagon sent its first military aid to ukraine since december after finding cost savings in other accounts. in hong kong, lawmakers unanimously approved a national security law that grants the government even more power to crackdown on dissent. the legislature stacked with pro-china loyalists had fast-track to the measure peered
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at expand on a -- the measure peered expense on a law from 2020. former brazilian president bolsonaro is facing the first of what may be multiple indictments. this one for falsifying his covid vaccination status. the far right leader had openly flouted health restrictions during the pandemic. under brazil's legal system, today's indictment allows actual charges to be filed. the united nations international labor organization reports illegal profits from forced labor have skyrocketed to $236 billion per year. the agency finds there was a 37% increase in 2021 from a decade earlier. it found sexual exploitation accounts for three quarters of the illicit profits. in this country, the biden administration is easing its drive for more electric vehicles. the energy department granted higher mileage ratings for ev's today.
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that makes it easier for automakers to meet higher fuel economy mandates. report said the epa will relax its timetable for tailpipe emission cuts. the plan relies heavily on ev sales but demand for the vehicles has slowed. stocks advanced again today ahead of tomorrow's federal reserve announcement on interest rates. the dow jones industrial average gained 320 points to close at 39,110 to the nasdaq rose 60 three points. the s&p 500 added 29. still to come on the newshour. president biden's plans to counter the spiking cost of housing. what is causing the record rating rise in ocean temperatures? why many americans from white evangelical backgrounds are choosing to leave the church. and a new exhibit celebrates the impact and legacy of the harlem renaissance. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour. from w eta studios in washington
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and in the west from walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona university. >> israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu reiterated his determination to send troops into rafa in southern gaza to route remaining hamas units. the drive has led to a rift with the biden white house as it warns against an israeli operation before 1.3 million palestinians can move to safety. as nick schifrin explains, many of those people are starving. >> in gaza city, this is what eminent famine looks like. thousands of palestinians crowd a u.n. warehouse. the women upfront waits for an 11 pound bag of flour like their lives depend on it because they do. >> people are hungry. people will die. they are killing people over five kilograms of flour.
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my son is a mark her and his wife died over five kilograms of flour. >> our suffering in gaza is indescribable. hunger, sadness, destruction. a bag of flour costs up to a thousand dollars. $1000. >> more than half of north gaza's population is at risk of famine. the six-year-old suffers from cystic fibrosis. before the war, his mother says he weighed 66 pounds. today he weighs 26. 's medicine is not available so he cannot walk. rafa in southern gaza is projected to face famine by july. five month old twins both malnourished. >> they should weigh 13 pounds. they waste six and a half pounds. they should be making noises, playing and laughing. they do not make any noises or play or laugh.
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>> in rafa where more than a million gazans are displaced, they line up with empty buckets and stomachs for the most basic of all needs. water. the u.n. says half of gaza's water and sanitation facilities have been damaged or destroyed. >> if we go back to even before the war, there was a water shortage. today there is barely enough for the necessary things. >> such a lack of aid coming through. the children are starting to die of dehydration. starting to die of now nutrition. >> james elder of unicef is visiting gaza this week. we spoke to him from gaza. >> record number of children being killed. record number of homes being destroyed. record number of civilians, children, families falling into catastrophic food insecurity. >> today an israeli spokesman blamed the levels of hunger on
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hamas >>. we think it is a shame international organizations are choosing to buy into hamas narrative. hamas is tries and desha trying to force a maturing crisis because that is part of its strategy. >> israel says that it places no restrictions on aid and of the past two weeks, an average of 200 trucks per day have entered gaza. israel coordinates with the u.s. on air drops and facilitated the arrival and distribution of food from the first aid ship. >> well israel went to great lengths to improve our expecting capabilities, international organizations responsible for distributing the eight have not been the same. israel is inspecting the aid faster than the international organizations can distribute it. >> outrageous how many lifesaving supplies are so desperately close to those who need them. >> elder and the unc israel has locked aid and the struggle to secure convoys is a product of israeli constraints. >> so many people, families,
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moms, children, when they see a single delivery think i might not see another one literally for weeks. if we are able to consistently get aid in, that sends desperation which can lead to insecurity. >> today in jerusalem netanyahu prime minister once again said there is no way to feed hamas without defeating hamas final battalions, hiding among the displaced in rafa. >> we are determined to complete the elimination of these battalions. there is no way to do it except by going in on the ground. >> yesterday, national security advisor jake sullivan said there was another way. >> the president has rejected and did again today the strawmen that raising questions against rafa is the same about raising questions about defeating hamas. that is nonsense. . our position is hamas should not be allowed a safe haven in rafa or anywhere else but a major ground operation would be a mistake. >> u.s. and israeli officials will meet next week to debate
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the fate of a city filled with the famished. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> for perspective on the rising tensions between the biden administration and prime minister netanyahu, we turn to david makovsky of the washington institute for near east policy. he joins us from tel aviv. always good to see you. you saw the reporting. continues to lay bare the horrific conditions on the ground for palestinians. that is what people here in the knighted states are seeing. the suffering, that he military and crisis. tell me about the perspective in israel. what is the news coverage like? >> i usually try and certainly since the start of the war and october 7 but before, i try to watch the israeli network news witches primetime in hebrew and try to watch multiple channels. sometimes you do feel like you are watching different wars in different countries. it could be for purposes of
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morale. that you don't always see suffering of individuals. for the most part, they don't see these reports of people's minute sense of starvation in the north which is 10 to 15%. they see the food distributed in the south with 85 to 90% are. they don't see the size of the humanitarian crisis in the same way we see it in the united states. >> went to ask you about the recent headlines about a public rift between president biden and prime minister netanyahu. that on top of senator chuck schumer calling for netanyahu to step down. how is that resonating on the ground? our people concerned? >> there clearly is concern. the president is someone who is venerated because of his trip after october 7.
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a long sense of backing for israel for decades in the congress. he is someone with ordering the aircraft carriers to the eastern mediterranean. sending weapons and supporting israel's right to overthrow hamas. when the president speaks to the contrary, that is something that does concern people. there will be people who want to minimize it saying it is a result of american domestic politics of progressive pressure on the white house. when the president speaks, it is of concern. there is a sense of adulation here for the president. schumer is not as known as the president is. but newscasters have made the point he is the number one supporter in the senate. frankly, netanyahu is not doing well in the polls in israel. out of 120 seats, he pulls about 18. his numbers have been poor since early january of 2023 due to a
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very controversial judicial overhaul program he advanced. what schumer said frankly resonates with a lot of israelis who are upset with netanyahu frankly because they think it was your watch. israel was ill prepared on october 7. something he has -- something he has not handled the war well. he is not articulate any after strategy. he has not been as good as the president has been at making the distinction between driving out hamas from power and innocent palestinians. >> support for the war is still very high in israel. in a sense, is netanyahu's political survival depended on the were continuing? >> yes but israel has very strong military, other security institutions. this is too small of a country where everybody knows someone. he cannot keep a war going if the security establishment does not think it is a viable
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objective. the country believes in the goal of driving hamas from power. if he was seen as artificially extending a war the security services thought should have been stopped, your question would resonate. but it is clear he does not want an election because his numbers are low. the war itself is seen by israelis as wanting to drive hamas from power. you cannot beat something with nothing. you have to provide a compelling vision. what comes after hamas? there i feel the public feels he has not been adequate to the task. >> does a conflict for netanyahu with biden in any way benefit him? does it allow him to say i have stood up to the u.s. calls for a cease-fire, a two state solution. i am working to keep you safe. does that help him? >> it does. if the president is seen as pushing two states down israel's
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throat in a way that is not performance-based, security criteria, clear benchmarks. if he is seen as i am going to unilaterally impose this, that is netanyahu's ticket back to power. right now the president has not gone that far. he is aware of the backlash that would only help netanyahu's political fortunes. i don't think the president wants to do that should the president is aware this is difficult. i have said on your show if the palestinian state look like costa rica, every is a sign up. if they withdrawal, they are more vulnerable. they are not more secure. >> there has been analysis in the israeli press netanyahu is hoping former president trump and republicans could step in and offer him a political lifeline. do you see that happening? >> trump is seen as totally unpredictable on israel. as far as i know, trump has not even spoken a word to netanyahu
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since netanyahu called him and congratulated biden on his electoral victory in 2020 which trump said he won. he has blasted him he has used curse words against him. there is a certain images in america that netanyahu is waiting for trump. i think that is not true. i think netanyahu knows a second term trump who is untethered even in the best case and even more untethered in the second term is a total wildcard. i don't think he feels comfortable believing that is going to be better for him. >> david makovsky of the washington institute for near east policy joining us from tel aviv. thank you for your time and insight. >> always delighted to be with you. ♪ >> social media influencers are
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playing a key role in president biden's reelection campaign. it is a way of connecting to younger voters who are harder to reach through traditional advertising. >> joe biden is about to pull up in the motorcade. i'm going to get a quick view for you guys. >> 21-year-old harry had a special view of president biden on the night of the state of the union address. up close and personal from the white house. >> president biden needs four more years in that house. >> his videos capturing behind the scenes moments were broadcast to more than 830,000 followers. harry is just one of dozens of social media personalities and influencers the biden administration and more importantly the biden campaign is coordinating. from special invites to state of the union watch parties. all to get out there message and the vote on platforms like tiktok and instagram. >> a lot of people are
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persuaded daily by stuff they see on tiktok. they will see a clip of biden or trump saying something and that will change their minds. >> the buddy campaign told the newshour they are not currently paying influencers for their content. >> i don't think young people are picking up the phone when a campaign person is making a call. i don't think a young person is going to political power -- political rallies and list they interested in politics during from the candidate in a digital space and not a physical space. . the ridge on tiktok is remarkable. it is the best way for candidates to get in touch with young people. >> tiktok and youtube are the two most popular digital platforms among young people. almost a third of young people under the age of 30 get their news regularly from tiktok should resent pulling shows biden is struggling with young voters. a key part of the democratic race. his approval with voters under 30 sitting at 30%.
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know they're trying to meet young voters where they are. on the grid. >> mike johnson at his house republican caucus. >> they are hoping by partnering with beloved online personalities the algorithm might work in their favor. >> they are on social media. >> hannah murphy is a reporter at financial times covering technology and social media. >> the general wariness, distrust of traditional media. the politicians themselves to this is a way of reaching out to the people, that young people relate to, who look like them, who they trust above all. finding trusted messengers to speak on your behalf. >> despite the ongoing scrutiny around tiktok including legislation that could be on the up if it fails to separate from its chinese parent company, the biden campaign is cranking a viral content. >> trump or biden. >> are you kidding? >> since there tiktok lunch on super bowl sunday, the campaign has been leaning in.
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capitalizing on pop-culture moments and filming with regular people are all part of the strategy. unvarnished, relatable and genuine. >> the president came to my house to have dinner. >> in 2024, celebrities with millions of followers have arguably less sway than the micro influencer who has earned the trust of their smaller base. >> working with micro or nano influencers. people with thousands of followers, rather than millions. you can really target a particular demographic. you can geo-target in a battleground state where the race is really tight. you can say i want to find farmers in wisconsin to put out a particular message. >> former president obama revolutionized how once they see it social media platforms could turn out the vote. now there are committee k's agencies dedicated to partnering campaigns and politicians with influencers as an integral part of their strategy. veteran democratic operatives
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like teddy golf see this move as a natural next step. >> especially for young people but for an increasing number of old people, their perception of the war in gaza, there perception of lgbtq rights are being shipped by the expenses they are having on tiktok. it behooves politicians to be there if they want to have a voice in that conversation. >> president joe biden. >> as long as campaigns remain on social media, there is a lurking threat of disinformation. but it is a threat that he says is best confronted head-on. >> i think there is even more danger in not being on it. if you are president biden, disinformation about you can be spreading on tiktok whether you are on it or not. . you stand a better chance of combating the disinformation if you are on it. >> how do you know what you are putting in social media is persuading voters or as influencing any voters at all? >> it is tough to know that. it is tough to know that with
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television ads too and with speeches. you can measure of people egging to the end of your video or dropping off halfway through. the role of these proxy marks for active -- for efficacy but you can know if each is effective. >> former president trump is not on platforms like tiktok. instead using his own media platform truth social which he founded african kicked off x formerly known as twitter and of the aftermath of january 6. his campaign points to what they call an organic ecosystem of social media loyalists like joe rogan that have grown over the years especially on youtube. >> these people are so scared of president trump. . they know they cannot beat him. >> only the november result will reveal whether the investment in influencers translates to votes. . for the pbs newshour, i'm laura vallone vote as. >> for his part, president biden was on the campaign trail in the
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swing state of nevada where he held a plan to address skyrocketing housing costs and a severe shortage of affordable homes. i spoke with tom perez, a senior advisor to the president, about the administration's latest effort. welcome back to the newshour. > pleasure to be with you. >> both of the problems with the housing market stem from a shortage of homes. homeowners are in many cases or unwilling to move because they don't want to give up the record low mortgage rate they locked in during the pandemic. how would president biden's plan help free up existing homes and incentivize sellers? >> your point is a fair point. when you have a 3% interest rate on your loan and you are trying to buy a new house and you are at 6%, 6.5 cent environment, that is a problem. one part of the president's proposal will help a person who has been in their house, who did not have kids when they bought the house but now they have two
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children to get a $10,000 tax credit for two years if they go into a bigger home. that will free up that existing stock. it is $400 a month. the reason for two years as we are confident in two years the interest rate environment will continue to improve as it has been. that is one example of what we are trying to do to help homeowners and to help the issue you said about the failure to have enough stock. another thing we have to do is build. we need more housing stock. the president talked about it in the state of the union. there is a $20 billion proposal in the president's budget to work with state, local authorities and other key stakeholders to build more affordable housing. we need more supply. already 1.7 million homes being built right now which is record. we know it is a tip of the iceberg of what the need is. that is why the president is being so aggressive.
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>> i spoke to a couple leaders in the housing industry. what they told me is what they really need is tax policy that spurs and incentivizes development. they need regulatory reform. you have housing developers who say they cannot afford to navigate a matrix of regulations that not only encompass every step of the building process but the operating process. . you have these regulations that seem to constantly shift. how was the administration going to address that? >> the $20 billion innovation fund. the operative word is innovation. incentivizing best practices at a local level. are used to serve in government in maryland where i live. when use issues are what you are referring to. the federal government does not control the pace at which a home is built. that those are state and usually local issues.
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our innovation fund is designed to help make sure people and local governments can move faster while respecting other issues that are of importance in those local government areas. we recognize time is essential in the construction projects. time is frankly money for many people. that is why i think this innovation fund is very exciting. >> i am sure there are would be first-time homebuyers watching this who feel they have been locked out of the market because the first time homes, the starter homes are so unaffordable. what is the specific proposal that would help them? >> the specific proposal is that both the $10,000 tax credit, $400 a month for two years. that is the equivalent of knocking a little over a point over the interest rate depending on the size of the loan. in addition, we are reducing costs.
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if you need to get title insurance, we are running a pilot program for federally insured loans to and them innate that requirement of -- to eliminate that requirement. that knocks off the cost. the various alphabet soup of revelatory agencies are looking closely at other junk fees that are all about getting a little more money for lenders and at the expense of would be homebuyers. these are the things we are doing. the president continues to call on congress to pass his proposal for housing assistance, for down payments what we have seen is a lot of people can afford the mortgage payment but the $15,000 down payment or the $20,000 down payment is what trips them up. we have worked hard to identify the barriers to entry. what i would say to would-be
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homeowners is let's work together. opportunities are out there for you to realize that american dream. >> former labor secretary tom perez, no senior advisor to president biden and director of the office of intergovernmental affairs. thanks for your time this evening. >> pleasure to be with you. ♪ >> the world meteorological organization issued a red alert running today about -- alert warning today about warming and climate change saying 2024 is shaping up to be another record year. one of the many worries about how the plane is changing thanks in part to human activity is the record shattering warming of the world's oceans. >> i want to put up a graph that shows how out of the ordinary ocean temperatures are becoming. this shows the average daily
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surface temperatures of the world's oceans. the thin gray lines represent one year and 79. his last years readings in arndt. 2023 started out in the upper end of normal but soon became a record-breaking we hot year. here in red, is just the beginning of this year. the oceans are already in uncharted territory. so what is going on here? john abraham is a professor of mechanical engineering at the university of st. thomas and is part of an international consortium of researchers who monitor ocean temperatures. thank you so much for being here. before we get into the why, are you in this camp that is genuinely alarmed at what is going on? >> that is a really good question. behind the scenes, there are two groups of scientists. one group thinks what we are seeing can be explained by long-term global warming. and what is called el niño.
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there is another group who think there might be another ingredient. there might be something we have not detected. i'm sort of in the middle. the warming we are seeing this past year is a little out of the ordinary of what we would expect with global warning and el niño together. maybe something else is happening but we don't know. this is what makes scientists excited and this is what makes science great. would like to uncover these question marks. to be honest i'm on the fence. >> let's unpack that to on climate change in particular, as we warm the atmosphere, the oceans do get warmer. we know that is a well documented fact to all nido, -- a well documented fact. nino, that can warm the oceans as well. if you had to put these as a percentage, are we principally talking about climate change or how do you apportion blame? >> if you want me to quantify the effect and this is just
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off-the-cuff. this is a rough estimate based on my intuition. there is about half global warming and maybe a third of it is el niño. and the remainder, 20% or so is a question mark. the 20% could be some extra global warming we had not accounted for. it could be something else. the majority of this and the reason we are setting records every year is mobile warming. as you pointed out, the scientific term is bonkers year. this is off the charts. it is more than we would have normally expected even within el niño. >> there is a couple other factors i have read about being possibly complicit here. this you to volcanic eruption that spent a ton of moisture into the atmosphere. solar cycles. also the elimination of a lot of pollution from shipping which paradoxically, it is wonderful for human health but it is taking the umbrella off the oceans which can warm the oceans.
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are those factors you consider as well? >> they could be and some scientists are considering those. i'm not sold. the reason i'm not sold is we are seeing an incredible amount of heat in specific locations. on a particular in the atlantic ocean. we are seeing other parts of the planet that have lower surface temperatures. the patterns of warming we are seeing don't jive with some of the other options you mentioned. they are under consideration by my colleagues. >> for people who might look at the chart i showed and say you are just using a narrow y-axis and why do we care if there is just a degree or two difference in temperature in something as colossal as the ocean? why do we care if the oceans are arming global -- are warming globally? >> you said it. the oceans are colossal. a watched pot never boils. it takes a lot of energy to heat up water.
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if that is true for a pot on your stove, think about how true it is for the ocean to cover 70% of our planet. the amount of heat has to go into the oceans to raise their temperature a degree celsius or a degree fahrenheit is astronomical. a degree warming of the ocean, that is a different world. it is going to affect the weather all over the planet. tremendous impacts to humans and our society. these numbers in terms of temperature increases are really astounding. >> my colleague mentioned the world meteorological association issuing this red alert. we ask people this often but i wonder what your take on this would be. given these findings, what is it we ought to be doing as humanity to try to address this? >> that is the easy part. we need to do a couple things and we can do them with today's technology. we need to conserve technology. use energy more wisely. let's not waste the energy we
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get out of fossil fuels. secondly, maximize our development of clean and renewable energy. the great thing is green energy is cost comparable to fossil fuels. in the olden days, if you put solar panels on your house, that was a mark of altruism. now it is a mark of fiscal conservatism. clean energy is cheaper than coal. that has created an inflection point in the scientific community. that is what gives us optimism. there is no reason not to maximize clean renewable energy. those things are the most important things people can do to change the trajectory we are on. >> john abraham, professor of engineering at st. thomas university. thank you for being here. ♪ >> in her new book npr political correspondent sarah mccann did
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takes a look at a growing movement away from the white evangelical church. her perspective is part investigative and entirely personal. i spoke with her recently about the book, the ex vangelicals. welcome to the newshour. >> thanks and for having me. >> let's start with the term exvangelical. someone who left the church or left the faith or in some cases both. >> somebody who used to be evangelical and now for whatever reason does not identify that way. that can mean a lot of different things. it can mean not religious at all. it can mean deeply religious but not identifying with the even gelcoat term. i came across in my reporting as the label evangelical has become increasingly in people's minds a political one rather than spiritual or theological. it is a term people are conscientiously moving away
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from. >> you are raised in deeply evangelical family in the midwest taught to fear god, not to question the faith. . how did that come to define your worldview and come into conflict as you got older? >> the world i grew up in was entirely surrounded by evangelical teachings, ideas, books, media, magazines. anyone who grew up even gelcoat in the 80's or 90's or the laughter will recognize that. it was a carefully constructed world that presented a specific worldview. for me, that meant our family, our community, we were called upon to share our faith with other people. it had political implications. one of the most challenging things for me about that is the idea everyone who disagreed with us was not part of the family. not part of the fold. as a child it was impressed upon me it was important to view the world in this specific way. as i got older, i struck to do
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that -- i struggled. to do that. . >> you>> explore the many reasons why people leave the even to local church. what are some common threads? >> there are a lot of common themes. the biggest unifying theme is a sense that the world you are presented with in the evangelical community does not always align with the world you discover as you learn and grow and get to know people who are different. some of those themes -- sometimes it is sexuality. sometimes it is politics. sometimes it is science. the view of science. one of the things i was taught growing up and a lot of evangelical kids are that the earth is 6000 to 10,000 years old. and that one of the reasons so many scientists believe in evolution is because it is a way to avoid acknowledging god as i got older, i discovered most people did not see the world that way. there were pieces of knowledge that were missing from my
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childhood education. i also discovered that is not the only way to see the world. many people leave in god and believe in science -- believe in god and believe in science. it is those sources of cognitive dissonance that drive people to reframe, question, reform their faith. >> there is this notion that people who leave the church are somehow anti-religion or anti-christian. what do you make of that? >> i don't think it is true. many of the people i have met and talked to in the process of writing this book had to think deeply about their faith, wanted to think deeply about because they cared about it. it was not about hitting the church or rejecting the church. some people find their way out of the church but a lot of people i talked to are trying to find some connection to spirituality. >> moving on, -- what are exvangelical leaving
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behind when families and communities are still tied to the church? >> it depends on the family and community. some families are more accepting than others. a lot of people i talked to for this book have had to set very careful boundaries with the things they do and don't talk about with their loved ones. that can be really painful and isolating and alienating. it can mean rejection. it can mean a lot of distance from family members. it is interesting to see the compromises people make or the ways they navigate that tension. >> what do you hope readers take away from your book? what conversations do you hope this ignites? >> for people who grew up in the evangelical world or any sort of strict religious environment to step away from it can be painful and come at a cost. i hope people who have had that experience that is often called deconstructing will feel seen and described and understood. when they read this book.
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for people from outside the evangelical world who may have questions about it and feel mystified about -- i get asked a lot why do evangelicals believe the things they believe? what are they do? i hope this will provide a little bit of insight and empathy into what this experience is like. >> do what evangelicals feel misunderstood? there has been in the wider culture this sense of piling on especially in the trump era. >> that was something i felt and heard growing up. there was a sense that it was interesting because i think i grew up with the impression we were sort of a small persecuted minority. that is a theme in many ways comes from is the bible. if you follow god, he will be peer secreted like christ was persecuted. what i did not realize growing up was i was part of a massive subculture.
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a giant movement that was close to one in four americans during my adolescent years at least. that had a huge and outsized political influence on this country and still does in many ways. that sense of an battlement and persecution i think a lot of it goes to the fact white christianity used to be the dominant culture in this country. it is increasingly on the decline for a whole bunch of reasons. some of which just have to do with increasing diversity and on the one hand the country is less white than it used to be. it is also less religious. i should say many nonwhite americans are very religious. all of that means there are a lot of crosscurrents happening within the american church. i'd a lot of change -- and a lot of change. for some white christians in general who are used to filling their narrative was the dominant one, if it no longer is, they can feel like a threat when it is really just a change. >> the book is the exvangelicals
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, loving, living and leaving the white evangelical church. thanks for a great conversation. i appreciate it. ♪ >> it was an art movement that helped create a new portrait and understanding of black life in america. now the harlem renaissance is the subject of an exhibition at one of the country's leading museums. jeffrey brown reports for our arts and culture series black canvas. >> a new black imagery and identity. it is the achievement of the confluence of people, places and diverse artistic forms collectively known as the harlem renaissance. art historian denise morel. >> it is this idea of the beginning of black modernity that was the first
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african-american led movement of modern art of international modern art. the harlem renaissance is the beginning of the modern black subject that we recognize as part of who you are today -- who we are today. >> curator of the harlem renaissance and transatlantic modernism at new york's metropolitan museum of art. an exhibition of 160 paintings, sculptures and photographs. many of those i james vendors he. from the 1920's to 1940's. that captured a range of transformation from b blac life in urban centers amid the migration of million. there were well-known figures like aaron douglas and jacob lawrence. and others such as laura wheeler wearing receiving overdue attention. schoolchildren, elders, some who had worn into slavery. queer life brought to the fore. police brutality and protests.
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artists looking to african traditions and to europe's past and present. >> modern black life not previously part of art history or of popular culture. they were making these works in direct opposition and resistance to the prevalence of racial stereotyping in the popular culture. >> they were doing this in a conscious and deliberate way. we are going to tell the story of contemporary black life. >> of our community as it remakes and redefines itself. >> langston hughes tapped the rhythm and vibrancy of jazz in his poems. archibald motley captured it in the clubs. william h johnson in street life harlem. >> he is creating icons. he is creating new black icons. this is who we are. this is how we want to be seen. >> there are cultural icons.
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marion anderson and josephine baker. and intellectual guiding light 11 log who wrote in his 1925 landmark book the new negro art must discover and reveal the beauty of prejudiced character. >> he said we will in our art, our music, our literature make works that reflect african-american values and cultural aspirations and history and scenes of everyday life. >> and create and shave our own identity as opposed to being shaped. >> by external, external forces. as langston hughes said, if other people like it, great. if they don't like it, that is ok too. >> she is keen to expand the map of this renaissance to other cities, the caribbean and to europe. and where she wants us to see
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leading european painters like matisse and munch themselves surrounded by and depicting black subjects. the exhibition highlights the contributions of historically black colleges and universities. for a long time the chief supporters of black artists and repositories of their works. while mainstream museums and art history books generally treated the harlem renaissance as a footnote rather than a major movement. she experienced it as a student. >> it was there when you looked for it but it was not there when you were saying just getting your basic art history 101 survey. it would not have been part of those courses so it has to be something that you are actively seeking out. and i think it should be something that is part of how art history is taught from the beginning. >> in 1969, the metropolitan museum mounted an exhibition
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titled harlem on my mind. a social history that controversially included not a single painting or sculpture by a black artist. how do we look back at that context and think about this? >> it was a story told about harlem by people from outside the community. it was deliberate based on the lack of knowledge. to some extent, probably just a deliberate conformity to the still very much segregated art world at the time. it was an example of what happens when you don't have diverse voices as part of the leadership of any institution but especially of a museum like the met. the causal factors of that. the union soldiers are in retreat. >> she joined the museum in 2020. she is herself part of a changing our world at the met and beyond.
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this is the first exhibition she has curated here. she sees it not so much as a corrective to the museum's past as a much-needed acknowledgment of the artist's achievement. >> we still have a great bit more to do but we are beginning to have people at the table say ok. i am all for doing a great show on hopper but we should be doing shows on william h johnson. augustus savage. laura wearing. archibald motley. aaron douglas. that is what will ultimately allow the met to achieve a level of excellence in the implementation of realization of its shin to become an encyclopedic museum. >> the harlem renaissance and transatlantic modernism is on through july 28. for the pbs newshour come i'm jeffrey brown at the metropolitan read cmo of art in new york. ♪
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>> and join us again here tomorrow night when we will have a look at the down ballot results of tuesday's primary elections. and that is the newshour for tonight. > thanks for joining us and have a great evening. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> on an american cruise line's journey, travelers experience the maritime heritage and culture of the maine coast and new england islands. our fleet of small cruise ships explore american landscapes, seaside villages and historic harbors where you can experience local customs and cuisine. american cruise lines. proud sponsor of pbs newshour. >> consumer cellular. this is sam. how may i help you?
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crowd: ¡tigres! pati, voice-over: if you want to see true mexican passion on full display, go to a soccer game, and now that monterrey is a host city for the 2026 world cup, fans are more passionate than ever. pati: ohh! woman: it doesn't count. it does not count. oh, that is so crazy. pati, voice-over: mexico has had some heartbreakers