captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> we're waiting for the senate to do their job. >> ifill: in search of compromise, congress gets down to brass tacks in the funding fight over the department of homeland security. good evening, i'm gwen ifill. judy woodruff is on assignment. also ahead this wednesday. when dress codes collide with religion. a job applicant who wears head scarves takes her case to the supreme court. >> we do more than give housing we give a community to young mothers. >> ifill: housing becomes an artist's canvas, and reshapes a struggling houston neighborhood into a vibrant community. >> what i believe is art and creativity has the potential to transform the lives of

individual and the lives of a community. >> ifill: those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

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>> ifill: f.b.i. agents in new york arrested two men today who they say were planning to join islamic state forces in syria. one was stopped at kennedy airport, before he could board a flight to turkey. the other was arrested in brooklyn. he'd allegedly spoken of trying to kill the president. a third man, in jacksonville, florida, is charged with helping finance the effort. meanwhile, kurdish fighters in syria have cut a key islamic state supply line from iraq. the kurds launched an offensive over the weekend, with heavy fighting just a few miles from the iraqi border. amid the fighting, isis combatants have seized up to 150 christians in the region. a war of words escalated today between the white house and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. it involved his planned address to congress next week on the nuclear talks with iran. republicans invited him, without consulting the white house. some democrats have now said they will skip the speech. last night, national security advisor susan rice offered the

sharpest criticism yet, to charlie rose on pbs. >> ifill: netanyahu, who's in the middle of an election campaign, fired back today during a visit to a jewish settlement near jerusalem. >> ( translated ): there are many reasons to worry about the agreement that is forming now. the world powers have committed. >> ifill: the obama administration has said, despite early reports, no deal is in place. iran staged a major show of military force today, taking aim at a life-size model of a u.s. aircraft carrier. state television broadcast war games near the entrance to the persian gulf. spectators looked on as speedboats raced in, and missile batteries fired on the mock-up, doing heavy damage. the u.s. navy dismissed the exercise. a spokesman said: "they've attempted to destroy the equivalent of a hollywood movie set." in afghanistan, at least 124 people died in avalanches triggered by heavy snowfall. homes in four northeastern provinces were buried in the

snow slides. the hardest hit area, about 60 miles outside kabul, affected hundreds of families. back in this country, a new winter storm rolled into the deep south and mid-atlantic today, with up to eight inches of snow expected overnight. in georgia, governor nathan deal declared a state of emergency, and said this time, officials are ready. last year, a winter storm crippled the city for days. far to the north, the weather caused havoc in maine, where more than 75 vehicles crashed on a snowy stretch of interstate 95 early today. at least 17 people were hurt. and boston got two more inches of snow overnight, taking its total over 100 inches this winter. only the winter of 1995-'96 was worse. the former marine who killed "american sniper" author chris kyle will serve life in a texas prison, without parole. eddie ray routh was found guilty last night of fatally shooting kyle and another man in 2013. a jury rejected his insanity defense.

his lawyers said they'll appeal. the race for mayor of chicago will go to a runoff in april. incumbent rahm emanuel fell short of winning a second term outright on tuesday. he got 45% of the vote to 34% for cook county commissioner jesus "chuy" garcia. as the results came in, they urged their supporters on. the runoff takes place april 7. wall street failed to make much headway today. the dow jones industrial average managed a gain of 15 points to stay above 18,200. but the nasdaq fell a point. and the s&p 500 was down slightly as well. still to come on the newshour. a showdown over funding the department of homeland security. does a retailer's dress code trump religious freedom? creating artificial intelligence that can think and learn like a human. why cutting edge tech companies struggle with gender equality. china's secret plan to supplant the u.s. as the leader of the world. and, using art to foster community in a struggling

houston neighborhood. >> ifill: congress now has just three days left to pass a budget for the department of homeland security, but hasn't agreed exactly how to get there. the agency's funding has been caught up in a wider debate over president obama's use of executive action to change immigration law. the disagreement has made for a rare, but clear, split among republicans leaders in the house and the senate. political editor lisa desjardins has the story. >> reporter: this shutdown split, for republicans, is a question of priorities. everyone agrees the department of homeland security must be funded. and republicans in general all oppose the presidents executive actions to protect more undocumented immigrants. house republicans say the immigration issue is priority. they voted to fund homeland security but only with a block of the president's policies attached. but that bill has died in the

senate, where senate republicans are prioritizing homeland security with a bill that does nothing but fund the agency. it is a back and forth with an agency in the middle. today, speaker boehner pointed back to the republican-led senate. >> the house has done it's job to fund the department of homeland security and to stop the president's overreach on immigration and we're waiting for the senate to do it's job. >> reporter: and the senate responded within hours. voting overwhelmingly to start debating its no-strings-attached funding bill. >> the ayes are 98, the nays are 2. >> reporter: in the halls of the capitol it is a fight among conservatives. alabama's mo brooks is determined and defiant on immigration. >> i am not going to vote for any legislation whether it be long-term or short term that supports illegal and unconstitutional conduct. and so i don't know what the speaker's plan is going forward but i can tell you what my

position is and i think there are a substantial number of republicans in the house of representatives who agree that the united states constitution comes first. >> reporter: but representative john carter of texas worries about border patrol agents. >> i want to make sure that those guys down in the kareezo cane down in south texas where drug dealers cross everyday carrying heavy firearms those guys are getting a paycheck. >> reporter: this policy battle over immigration and the department of homeland security of course has very large political underpinnings. right now i'm standing a few feet away from the house chamber. if you look over my shoulder you can see the long hallway leading to the u.s. senate. it's about 600 feet, the length of two football fields. but for republicans this week that distance has never been greater and it has everything to do with the different political problems for republicans in the house and the senate. >> following the 2010 census, the gop made the election districts that they controlled

in various states, more republican. not only more republican, but more conservative. >> reporter: stan collender is a policy analyst and strategist for qorvis communications. he says while the house swept with more conservative districts, senate republicans won their majority by winning overall in purple states with moderate votes, like north carolina and iowa. >> if they go too far to the right, that is if republican senators try to duplicate what the republican house members are doing, it will hurt politically. >> reporter: this is what's fueling the gop divide. in the senate, mitch mcconnell has a thin majority with 54 seats. if he loses four seats, the senate is tied. problem is, next year, mcconnell has seven seats that could be vulnerable. now, look at speaker boehner's situation in the house. he has a wide majority-- 57 more seats than democrats. republicans could lose all of their vulnerable members and still keep the house. a bigger issue is finding agreement-- boehner has some 20-

60 conservatives calling for tough, no-compromise stances, that makes any vote difficult... and add to that-- some conservatives regularly issue threats and question if boehner should be speaker. result? for now, boehener is not taking a firm position either way. >> i don't know what the senate's capable of passing and until i see what they're going to pass, no decision's been made. >> reporter: which is precisely the problem for homeland security secretary jeh johnson. >> there are concrete dramatic consequences for the homeland security of this nation if we allow the funding of the department to lapse. >> ifill: and lisa joins me now from the u.s. capitol lisa, if this past 98-2 in the senate, what's the real hold-up in the house? >> an overwhelming vote in the senate, i think, gwen, it comes down to the fact among conservatives, the houses that more conservatives and those folks are in fact more

conservative themselves. it's just a more conservative body in the house, and they are approaching this immigration issue with kind of tougher stances, digging in fatherrer than the senate. also, gwen i'd like to mention i think two bodies operate differently. they always have and what we're seeing here is republicans have yet to fully sync up. they are in charge in both bodies but they haven't yet figured out how to make the machinery work while they're in charge. >> ifill: so is there a plan to get through this? is there an end game or is it going to come to another standoff like we have seen before? >> there is not an end game yet officially, but reading the tea leaves, gwen, talking to sources up here on the hill, it looks like what will likely happen is some time tomorrow we could see the senate move forward with perhaps a final vote on its funding plan. that, of course, depends on maybe will there be objections from ted cruz or jeff sessions and others. but likely a senate vote some time tomorrow night. then if that moves to the house, that would be a funding bill without any strings attached, the pressure is on the house.

are they ready to shut down government over this-- or rather shut down homeland security over this issue? they know that a shutdown really is not the right word that in fact most of homeland security will stay operating and just in fact homeland security officers will not get paid immediately. they're trying to figure out what the tradeoff is there, how much will they get blamed for such a practical, and in fact gwen, it looks like a lot of talk right now means pee would be here this weekend working out this problem. perhaps there's a partial shutdown of a day or two for homeland security, technically, but already in congress' mind it's monday that matters when homeland security security workforce in bulk would go back to work. >> ifill okay, lisa, here's a theory. we saw jeh johnson just now in your piece but we also know he came out today, standing beside him were two former republican d.h.s. secretaries, michael chertoff and tom ridge who called the plan to try to hold-- i think the word chertoff used was "hostage," holding it

hostage and the term tom ridge called it was folly. is that a persuasive argument for these very conservative republicans who just disagree with the president on this? >> this is a theory that's out here-- put pressure on republicans from republicans. but gwen, honestly yolk that pressure is working yet on the house. that is something the senate is responding to. that's why we saw such a big vote today to move along, let's get the agency funded. in the house the priorities are different, as we said in the story. they are concerned about this immigration action and there are conservatives there who say they don't want anything else to happen until imgration is dealt with. one other note, gwen. i think this is a sign of more things to come. while this immigration showdown could be resolved within a few days, there are many more cliffs, showdowns like this ahead. we'll see if republicans can get on the same page several more times this summer. >> ifill: lisa desjardins watching it all unfold up on

capitol hill. thank you. >> you got it. >> ifill: now we turn to the supreme court, where the justices today heard the case of a woman who went to a job interview wearing a head scarf, and didn't get the job. but why? at the heart of the case business rights versus religious freedom. as always, newshour contributor marcia coyle of the "national law journal" was at the court. how did this case get to the supreme court, marcia? >> gwen, title 7 is our nation's major bob bias law and it prohibits discrimination on the basis of race. it actually makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail to reasonably accommodate religious beliefs or practices unless that would create an undue hardship on the business itself. a lower federal appellate court here ruled that abercrombie and fitch was not liable under title

vii when it failed to hire samantha elove, who is muslim and wears a head scarf a what jeeb because the appellate court said an employer can only be liable if the employer receives direct notice from the job applicant or the employee that there is a need for a religious accommodation. the equal employment opportunity commission brought the appeal to the supreme court challenging that rule, and that was the case that the court heard today. >> ifill: in this case abercrombie and fitch this kind of caters to the youth market and has a certain look said her hajib, or the way she was dressed for this job interview didn't match their look that they wanted their employees to have. did they say at any point that it was because of religion? >> no, abercrombie and fitch's lawyer today said the so-called look policy is a

religion-neutral policy and that she was not hired just because her hajib would violate the look policy. the arguments were very spirited today, and i would say that the abercrombie and fitch's counsel really bore the brunt of the questioning. it seemed as though more than than a majority of justices were skeptical of that argument-- of the company's argument. >> ifill: for example. >> here's the real problem. the government believes that the burden should be on the employer because the employer here-- to take the first step in a job interview-- because the employer has superior know, knows the work rules, and if the employer senses perceives understands or knows that there could be a religious issue, the employer should just bring it up and start what congress intended a dialogue with the job applicant to see if there was a religious issue, and is there a need for

an accommodation? otherwise, if you put the burden on the employee or job applicant, as the lower court here did, they're reluctant to bring religion up in a job interview. an employer can remain silent perhaps knowing there's a religious issue, discriminate and escape liable. >> ifill: even justice alito who usually comes down in favor of business in these kinds of cases was among the skeptical ones today. >> he was. and he's actually very concerned about religious discrimination in general and he said-- he really simplified this and said, "look, why can't an employer just say, for one of the hypotheticals -- you have somebody wearing a beard in front of you-- why can't an employer just say curing the interview 'we have a work policy that excludes beerdz. do you have a problem with that? '" it doesn't draw religion into it right away. but the onus shifts to the job applicant to say if he or she does have a problem with it. >> ifill: i have a very quick

question for you, which is we've had a couple of other religious freedom cases before the court, whether the hobby lobby case, whether they have the right to give abortion benefits or-- you mentioned the beard a muslim prisoner who had a beard. is there similar or different? >> well, it's different because it falls under a particular statute that does make it illegal to fail to reasonably accommodate religious beliefs. but the court-- i mean, the law is very clear, and the court, even under the first amendment and religious freedom, is quite protective of those freedoms. this is an important case. business is watching it closely, too, because it believes that if it loses here, it's going to be forced into stereotyping people who apply for jobs in order to avoid liability. >> ifill: well, that's what we're going to talk about right now. thank you, marcia coyle, for this, as always. >> my pleasure gwen. >> sreenivasan: for more on the two side of the argu >> ifill: for more on the two

sides of the argument, we turn to munia jabbar, a civil rights attorney, formerly of the council on american-islamic relations. and rae vann, who is an attorney with the equal employment advisory council. munia jabbar, what is an employer's responsibility, in your opinion, in this case? >> an employer's responsibility is not to buriy their head in the stand when they are on notice that a potential employee will need a reasonable accommodation from them to work for them. so, for example, in this case there were supervisors please who recognized the young woman's head scarf as as hajib and a hajib is a religious garment. instead of engaging in a dialogue with her at all, or asking her do you think you're gog have any problems to go this job? they decided to avoid the issue. and otherwise she seemed to be a good candidate. >> ifill: rae vann in your opinion what, isab employee's or

applicant's responsibility in a case like this? >> the applicant in this context hans obligation to put the employer on notice of his or her sincerely held religious belief. it would be very problematic, as a practical matter to impose an obligation on employers under a broad rule, the type of rule that the e.e.o.c. is propose here that the employer delve into try to divine an applicant's religious beliefs based merely on how he or she presents him or herself at the interview. >> ifill: well let me ask you this, rae vann. if an applicant was wearing a yarmulke, is that something the employer or employee should have to mention if for some reason the employee policy doesn't allow for head gear? >> i think it's very dangerous to get into the business of requiring an employer to engage in that conversation.

the cases like the yarmulke like the example that justice alito provided in court today about the applicant who appears in a nun's habit, those are not necessarily difficult questions. the more difficult case comes when you have someone, for instance, who appears for a job interview coveredded with tattoos, and is applying for a front-of-the-house position. the employer does not wish to hire that person because that is not the image that it wishes to project. nthat particular position. under the e.e.o.c.'s formulation, the employer would have an obligation to inquire of that person-- inquire as to whether or not the display of tattooses is based on a sincerely held religious belief. >> ifill: let me ask munia jabbar about that.

are we talking about discrim neighbors religious freedom or does the tattoo example hold up? >> i think the tattoo example can easily be dealt with, because if an employer is not concerned about the person's religion but is instead concerned about the person's ability to do the job, i would think that the employer would just ask the job candidate, look, i've noticed you have some tattoos, here is our look policy, or these are our policies with respect to front-of-the-house or public interaction jobs. would you have a problem complying with this in some way? and that could surface the discussion. >> ifill: let me ask you another thing. here's a-- is it possible, or conceivable, that someone could be-- appear for any reason in their head scarf and not be religious at all not be a religious item at all? >> it's possible but again, i think that what would happen in

that case is that the would ask well, you know again "here is our policy. i notice you are wearing a scarf. would you have a problem complying with the policy for any reason?" the other reason is i think it's naive to think that employers at this point aren't savvy enough to be awbl to identify the most common hallmarks of religious grooming. for example, some studies have shown that the general american public over 90% can recognize a hajib head scarf and how it often looks, corveg the hair and the neck when it is worn. so i think that even if the applicant doesn't give verbal notice, the employer will often still be on notice because they're going to see the scarf and they're going to recognize it. >> ifill: rae vann, why don't you respond to that. >> that may well be the case with respect to the yarmulke or even perhaps a hajib, or a nun's

habit, but that is it not hold water when you talk about body piercings, tattoos facial hair hair length. those are all personal styles that can be atributed to or be the result of a sincerely held religious belief or they could be symbols of a style a style that an individual seeks to display. so i think that again, it's a complex issue, but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that this is not about abercrombie & fitch not wanting to provide workplace reasonable accommodations to applicants, or employees or any employer wanted to do that. it is what triggers the obligation to engage in the discussion, and we believe that there are numerous practical

difficulties associated with requiring employers across the board to simply engage in the discussion based on some assumption or belief. >> ifill: we will see how the supreme court rules. munia jabbar, civil rights attorney, and rae vann, of the equal employment advisory council. thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> ifill: now, playing video games might seem like child's play. but as tom clarke of independent television news reports, it's also at the frontier of artificial intelligence. ( beeping ) >> t. >> reporter: it was the late 1970s and for the first generation of video gamers atari was king. by the standards of the day the graphics were mind blowing.

the sound out of this world. the selection of games just went on and on and on. oh! compared to the video games of today atari looks pretty clunky, but the games are still quite difficult to play, especially if you haven't picked one up for 30 years like me. but it's that exact combination of simple graphics but quite challenging game pray that attracted the cutting edge of artificial intelligence researchers back to the 1970s. this version of space invaders isn't being played by a person but a system of computer algrigthsims listening how to play it just by looking at the pixels on the screen. it may not sound like it but it's something of a breakthrough. the work of one of the finest young minds in a.i. research, north londoner richard. >> we don't give any clues about

what it is supposed to do in the game, how it gets the score, what's valuable in the game what the strategies are. it has to learn all those things from first principles. >> he shows me his system playing the classic paddle game breakout. >> so now about two hours in, now it can play the game pretty much as good as any professional human player could even when it's coming at very fast angles. we thought that's pretty good but what would happen if we left it playing for another couple of hours. it did this unexpected thing where it found the ultimate strategy was dig a tunnel around the side and sebd the ball behind the wall, so you see the optimal strategy and safest strategy. >> reporter: out of 49 excretely different atari games tested, the system played more than half of them better than a human a simple demonstration of what a.i. researchers researchers general, nontrivial intelligence. >> this is what the essence of intelligence is, is finding structure and meaning in your perceptual inputs and then being able to act intelligently to

make a plan using that model of the world. >> and that's what this system does? >> that's what this system does. but it's important to discuss some of the risks and make sure we're aware of those and it's decades and decades away before we'll have anything powerful enough to be a worry but we should be discussing that and beginning that conversation now. >> reporter: they've been around since the 1970s, and the machines haven't taken over yet. but, humanity watch this space-- >> ifill: a discrimination lawsuit in california is shining a light on the hiring and promotion practices of high-tech businesses, especially when it comes to women. jeffrey brown has our look. >> brown: the case centers on one of the industry's most prominent venture capital firms: kleiner, perkins. ellen pao, a former attorney and engineer there, filed a gender

discrimination suit, claiming she was pressured into a relationship with a married colleague, was barred from key meetings, and passed over for promotion. the company say the relationship was consensual and there was no discrimination. but the case also has a larger echo playing into a long- running critique of the role and treatment of women in the big- money, male-dominated world of silicon valley. with a harvard business review study finding a "hostile work environment" for many women, and another by babson college finding that just under 3% of silicon valley firms that receive venture capital funding have female ceos. nicole sanchez is the founder and ceo of vaya consulting a group that helps recruit and retain diverse employees in silicon valley. and nellie bowles is a reporter on the trial for "re-code," and was in the courtroom today nellie bowles, this is really being bitterly fought, isn't it?

you were there. fill us in briefly on the claims and counter-claims. >> yes, it's very intense. this is ray hugely historic case. kleiner perkins is a really respected firm here, and she is the c.e.o. of reddit one of the largest web sites on the internet, and she is alleging she was passed up for promotions and ultimately fired from kleiner perkins based on her jerpd. and on her complaints about gender discrimination while she was there. and so the stakes are high. if she wins, it's a very big deal glowr nicole sanchez, every case has the particulars but why is this resinating so much in the larger world out there? >> i think it's the first time anybody has taken on a firm this size and stature of a kleiner perkins. i think anecdotally women in silicon valley know this thing happens quite frequently. whether or not we found out this is the case with ellen powell, we are all watching to see what

happens because nobody has taken on a firm with this much power in silicon valley before. >> brown: staying with you, nicole, how does it manifest itself? what do you see happening on a daily basis for women? >> well, i think, you know, we need to separate out what we mean by "women" first of all. because i think when we say women there are several groups of women facing similar yet different enough things that it's worth bearing out. predominantly the women in silicon valley are still white and asian, and they face a lot of discrim neighbors harassment things like micro-aggressions that cause people to leave jobs death by a thousand cuts. and i think there's a very interesting study that came out of uc hastings by joan williams called double jeopardy, where women of color particularly black and latino women are facing an additional layer of harassment around race as well as gender. and this plays out in a lot of different ways both online and social media but also in the

quiet recesses of tech company where's a very male-dominated and particularly white male-dominated sector has been getting away with a lot for a really long time glowr nellie bowles you cover the industry. what results do you see? are people walking way from the industry? are they fighting back? what happens? >> i think they're fighting back. i think some of the cases that we're seeing are so egregious-- like what i'm seeing in the courtroom are a lot of really egregious examples of whether it's gender-based discrimination or what, of gender issues within kleiner perkins are coming to light. so, for example, there was today the revelation that there was an all-male ski trip in which one entrepreneur said, "hey, let's try to bring some women on this." and a partner on kleiner perkins said, "actually, no. on this trip let's have it be no gals." and there's another story in which one partner sort of lured a female kleiner perkins partner to new york on the auspices of meeting with an important

internet executive, and he turned out not to be there and it was just a date between the two of them. and then that night he tried to push his way into her hotel room, and she had to push him out. and then when she went to her kleiner perkins superiors to say she'd like this man not to be on her review board, they actually denied that request. and he was her reviewer. so later he was fired, to be fair. but i think we're seeing some really bombed shell events coming out of here so i think the ripple effect will be huge. >> brown: nellie bowles, the company is putting up a strong defense right? >> yes, oh, yeah they came out swinging. there's little room to compromise, to put it lightly. they are saying that ellen powell was hired basically as a secretary to do scheduling and calendaring and then that she was never up to the job of being a venture capitalist and just didn't are the skill set didn't have the interpersonal skills,

just wasn't capable of it with very strong language. there's little compromise here. >> brown: nicole sanchez back to the industry more broadly. we also see very high-profile women in the tech industry. explain-- is there a disconnect? how do you explain that? >> well i think that there are some disconnects and i think that the danger, just like in any sector is to point to one or two-- in this case i am assuming you mean marissa mayer and cheryl sandberg but it's easy to point to two and say, "well, they made it and why can't you?" there are things about their profiles, their education, their socioeconomic background that allowed them to do that and i don't knock them for that. for every one of them, there are thns of women who don't come close to that but are no less talented. i think any time we hold up anybody for a role model for all of us, it's very dangerous. it certainly doesn't bear to

mind the struggles i see some of the women i was with yesterday with one of my clients, some of the engineers who are just trying to get good code out. they're not wanting to be on an executive track. they're not wanting to be managers. they want to be engineers and design really cool things, and still they are facing a set of micro-aggressions to harassment that cause them to not even be able to do that. so that would be my caution about holding up a couple of women as success stories and say the rest of cuss do it. >> brown: all right, we will leave it there. nicole sanchez, nellie bowles, thank you both very much. >> thank you so much for having us. >> thank you. >> ifill: now, to a controversial warning about china, from a new best-selling book that's becoming a lightning rod for criticism. chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner explains. >> warner: since the 1970s, michael pillsbury has focused on china as a pentagon official and

consultant and now at the conservative hudson institute. over the years the mandarin speaker has grown ever more hard line in his views as is clear in his bestselling but controversial new book, "the hundred-year marathon: china's secret strategy to replace america as the global superpower"." he says it's based on chinese and american documents and books and conversations can chinese military officials and defectors. critics have shot back accusing him of sloppy use of evidence. i spoke with pillsbury last week. the very title of your book asserts america has been in denial, but china has a secret strategy to replace the united states. what is that strategy based on? >> the strategy is based on two things. first, china's historical role in what we would today call the leader of the world. they want to restore themselveses to the role they played for 2,000 years. the second part of the strategy is they know from their

economists that they can't build china into a replacement for us by themselves. they've got to get certain things from the outside world and they've worked very hard in the last 30 years to get those things. >> warner: is that so surprising? >> it's surprising because they have denied publicly such an ambition. they portrayed themselves as weak, backward and in great need of assistance from us. >> warner: and the united states has been a very willing partner in assisting them. >> yes because of false assumption. we thought going back 30 or 40 years ago, if china becomes prosperous, the middle class of demand democracy. and so we're look at a country that, yes, was stronger, but it has our values. that didn't happen. that's what i call the greatest intelligence failure in our history. >> warner: but there are other countries in the world that consider themselves great historical powers and want to restore that greatness. what makes china-- as you portray it-- somalevolent or

enimical to u.s. interest. >> i think it's the unreformed china i'm worried about. they plan to keep the commist party structure the approach to human rights, the approach to pollution. they plan to keep all that and become the dominant economic power. this is what i'm warping against. >> warner: wasn't it inevitable given china's size and resources that it was bound to grow by leaps and bounds. it didn't me the united states for that. >> they did need us from for that. it's clear from their own writings. they believe roughly half their growth was brought about by faiferl terms of trade and investment from america. we're criewcialg to their strategy. >> warner: you yourself made a personal evolution. you say you used to be what's known in the trade as a "panda hugger." >> a panda hugir is someone who uncritically wants to help and support china, has a sense of what i call the old narrative. i came to realize i'd been wrong from the beginning about who was really managing whom in this relationship.

we have, i hate to say been their pawns because bee wee got a lot of benefit from our trade with china and our investment, and they have made some enormous progress. but i think overall the chinese are managing us much better than we are managing china. >> warner: now people who looked at this book criticized it for relying way too much on the view of the hawks inside the defense and intelligence and military establishments. and that there are many other computing voices in the chinese establishment. aren't there? >> yes, that criminal is valid. but the rise of the hawks has happened. it's a fact. president zihas showed more attention, goes to meet with them in person. i think the recognize of the hawks that i'm claiming has taken place is not up for debate. it's happened for sure. other civilians have involved too. it's not just the military. they have a much more nationalistic view of the china should speak out and really be something now and not wait

until 2049. >> warner: what would a chinese-led global order look like that is detrimental to u.s. interests. >> the chinese concept of a new global order they say in very pleasing language, will be fair. the south and the poor countries of the world. there will be no pressure anymore against dictators. the issues of a global nature, like climate change, pollution in general these matters will be handled by consensus not by pressure groups from what they perceive as, you know, unusual concern with american values. that will all be gone. the key point about the new chinese-led global order is america will not abe global leader. the removal of the united states, as what they call the hedge mon, is the most important thing. so the new order itself is just gog have no american leadership. that's the fundamental point. >> warner: there is a counter view which is the u.s. and china are now the world's two biggest

economies, and if we enter into a period of conflict with them we do so at our own peril. >> it's true. we want to cooperate with china but what i'm arguing is a little bit different. i'm saying we need to be shaping china at the same time as they're shaping us. they have enormous plns in our political system with our businessmen. there's no reason we can't try to have the same kind of influence in beijing. >> warner: so if the united states wants to forestall this being replaced as the global sprp, what does it most need to do? >> we need to strengthen-- we have to wake up that the chinese are not pouring backward and it's time to shape them. secondly, we are falling behind in almost all the competitiveness indicators there are. we've got to get our own house in order first, or the chinese are going to win the marathon by default. >> warner: michael pillsbury, thank you.

>> ifill: as we reported last night, the nation is in the midst of dramatic demographic change. one key shift: many african- americans are leaving the city for the suburbs, but some urban communities are trying to get them back. jeffrey brown recently traveled to houston, to see how one group there is fighting to protect its community and history through art. >> brown: on a recent saturday, neighbors from houston's third ward came out to celebrate the life of the flower man. cleveland turner, who died at age 78, was a beloved folk artist who turned found objects into art and made his own home a kind of gallery. rick lowe was one of the speakers. >> the thing that makes it not so sad is that this neighborhood is full of people that are creatively expressing themselveses in different ways, and we see them. they walk through our doors all the time. >> reporter: "the doors" are

those of project row houses, an effort to rejuvenate and energize a neighborhood and its people through art, economic development, and social services. last year lowe, who raises funding from foundations, corporations, and individuals, was recognized for his efforts with the mcarthur fellowship, the so-called genius grant. lowe told me it began in the 90s when he was working as a traditional painter and sculptor. >> i had a group of high school students at my stiewd joe and this student came to me and said, "that's not what we need. if you're an artist, why can't you create a solution." >> the third ward is a mixed income, dredominantly african american era, dating back to the civil war. it is where the city's first sit-in protest took place by the civil rights era, but by the early 1990s, it was riddled with abandoned homes crime and drugs. lowe, then in his early 30s, joined with fellow artists to

buy and renovate 22 of these small, shotgun-style homes, originally built in the 1930s. he based the work now his art work, on the ideas of german artist joseph boyse. >> he coined the term "social sculpture." he defined it as the way we shape and mold the world around us. that's kind of what got me inspired to think of these shotgun houses being the basis or the foundation for social sculpture. >> brown: some of the houses were use forward art itself as work spaces and for exhibitions. they still are. and during our visit we saw work by established artists, including julia brown who had created a video showing from different perspectives the life of a single mother and her children. >> i think it's an opportunity to just get an intimate look at what someone's life is look. the space you're look at is materially on the other side of this wall. >> reporter: the other side of the wall, in homes, also part of project row houses, where

another side of the work goes on, providing shelter to single mothers and children. some of the houses are for temporary use, helping young women get on their feet. others, designed by the rice university building workshop working with rick lowe offer more permanent subsitized housing. >> oh, wow! you turned it into a bird! >> brown: that's where we met mikhail awho told us were a difficult chooid hood having to work two jobs and leave school. >> i was attracted to the program because it focused on budgeting. focused on parenting skills. it wasn't just a place to say. it would also develop me to become a better mother sp a better than important. >> brown: she has graduated from college published a book of poetry, now works at the university of houston, and has an enthusiasm that seems boundless. >> people always-- when i tell people i live in third word

they say, "it's dangerous there. i don't want to drive there." >> brown: even now they say that to you? >> i say, no, i live in an artist community. they're like, "okay i want to come see it. it." >> i was working in abject poverty making about $700 a month for me and my son. >> brown: perhaps the program's biggest success story is the woman who runs it. >> and i came into this organization, and this organization set the highest, grandest dream for yourself and we will support you. by '99 i graduated from the university of houston and went on to penn state to get a ph.d. >> brown: richards taught soc allege at the university of pittsburgh but decided she wanted to come back and mentor young women here. >> we do more than give housing. we give a community to young mothers. our concept is believing in investing in young mothers and their children is an investment in the future of the neighborhood. what i believe is art and creativity has the potential to transform the lives of individuals and lives of a

community. >> brown: now there's a new focus-- comx development. project row houses has created a business incubator providing space and support, for example for a food co-op to address the lack of fresk fruits and vegetables in the radio. >> are you tuned in. >> brown: and for a round-the-clock live web radio station, all real radio, in one of its row houses. its founder a longtime houston d.j, who goes by the name zinn says this is another way to power and unite those independent community. >> radio can give them that voice. radio can give the person who subsequent dnt have that spotlight the opportunity to be spotlighted. so i think it offers the community a voice, a vision, an opportunity, you know, from business to art to, you know, social activism. i think it fits in all of those categories. >> brown: so many crkz indeed, for project row houses. from social services to

low-income housing to business development the obvious question for artist rick lowe, why is this art? >> why it's art because there's a symbolic value that is evident in this project that is beyond normal social service projects or redevelopment projects and so on and so forth. i mean, you know, it comes in the same shape but it's completely departs when you start talking about its intention. >> brown: and the intention of an artist? >> it's a look at what it means to be in a house, you know, and to create something that is symbolic to get people to talk about. what does it mean to be in a house? what is the value of a house? >> call it what you will. many other cities are now calling rick lowe to come see what he might do with them. meanwhile, here in the third ward, there's still plenty of work to do. old houses sit abandoned on some streets. there's also new building everywhere including a $33 million renovation project at nearby emancipation park. it's a sign of gentrification,

as condos are built and rent and property taxes rise. ♪ ♪ ♪ lowe's biggest fear now is that the character of this place will change and longtime residents will be pushed out. >> as we embrace the awareness of historic value of this neighborhood, ting gives us some ground to continue to stay in this development process. >> brown: there was me preventing razing of the flower man's home. but rick lowe's organization owns this plot as well, and he told us it will be put to good use to preserve the legacy of the folk artist and his neighborhood. reporting from houston's third ward, i'm jeffrey brown for the pbs newshour. >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day. federal authorities charged two

men in new york with planning to join islamic state forces in syria. they said a third man, in florida helped finance the effort. investigators in pasco, washington reported that police fired 17 times when they killed a mexican farm worker earlier this month. the incident has sparked protests. the senate cleared the way for a vote friday on funding the homeland security department, but speaker john boehner declined to say if he'll bring it to a vote in the house. and, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu accused the u.s. and other western powers of giving up on stopping iran from building nuclear weapons. on the newshour online, think shark, and if you're like me you start hearing the theme from "jaws." but some say the predators of the sea are misunderstood. that's part of the reason biologist and diver, ocean ramsey, leads cageless "swimming with sharks" expeditions. see a photo gallery of a recent adventure and learn what makes these animals so important to the ecosystem.

plus, one artist paints the last meals of inmates on death row onto porcelain plates. find both of those stories on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. tomorrow on the newshour, celebrating the triumph over slavery through the painting of hale woodruff. >> in 1938, talladega college asked woodruff to commemorate the stories of the amistad, and of the founding of the college in a series of murals. >> and to have for once a triumphant story where the underdog, who is - underdogs who are black men, are able to take control of their lives and actually, um, uh set their own destiny was something that people found thrilling. and i think some other people found quite threatening. >> ifill: that's tomorrow on the newshour. and that's the program for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. we'll see you on-line, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night.

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