captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, a big win for environmentalists: president obama ends a seven-year review by rejecting the 1,100 mile extension of the keystone oil pipeline. and it's friday. mark shields and david brooks are here, to analyze the week's news. plus, pablo picasso, known best for his paintings, also had a talent for sculpture, now being shown in a new exhibit in new york. >> picasso, when he comes back to making three-dimensional objects, does it in ways that nobody has ever done before. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: hiring surged in the united states in october after two lackluster months. the labor department reported employers added 271,000 jobs. that's the most for one month since december. this helped push the unemployment rate down to 5%, the lowest it's been in seven years. at the same time, the proportion

of americans in the labor force was unchanged, at around 62%. today's strong data left the door open to a possible interest rate hike when federal reserve bank policy makers meet next month. on wall street, stocks failed to get much of a boost out of the jobs report. the dow jones industrial average gained just under 47 points to close at 17,910. the nasdaq rose 19 points, and the s&p 500 lost a fraction of a point. for the week, all three major indexes gained nearly 1% or more. president obama rejected the keystone x.l. oil pipeline proposal today, ending a protracted debate and handing a big victory to environmentalists. the controversial pipeline would have permitted oil from canada's tar sands to flow to u.s. gulf coast refineries. the president said the project would have undermined american efforts to secure a global climate change deal.

we'll take a closer look at the impact of his decision, right after the news summary. the supreme court agreed today to hear a fourth case challenging president obama's affordable care act. this time, the court will decide whether religious-affiliated institutions like universities and hospitals should be free from playing any role in providing employees contraceptive coverage. the president's health care overhaul currently mandates that those institutions request exemption from insurers. white house spokesman josh earnest was confident that they would win the legal challenge. >> the policy that we have in place appropriately balances the need for millions of americans to have access to birth control while also protecting the right of religious freedom that is protected in our constitution. >> woodruff: the high court will hear arguments in march. there was word today the obama

administration plans to open new screening centers to increase the number of syrians taking refuge in the u.s. reuters, citing unnamed officials, reported the outposts will be located in iraq and lebanon. president obama had already vowed to admit 10,000 syrian refugees into the u.s. in 2016. it's unclear how many more will now be taken in. greek ferry workers called off strikes today, clearing the way for thousands of refugees and other migrants to continue their journeys to the greek mainland. the first ships arrived in a port near athens this morning. the strike, which began monday, stranded some 25,000 asylum seekers in cramped conditions on small greek islands in the aegean sea. the ferry workers were protesting new austerity measures under greece's bailout. rescue teams in southeastern brazil today desperately searched for survivors in a

remote village engulfed in mud after dams from a nearby mining complex burst. the iron-ore mine's president said the two dams failed yesterday before nightfall. sludge flooded a community downstream, swallowing homes and cars in thick mud. at least two people were killed and dozens more are still missing. residents said no one alerted them to the danger. >> ( translated ): it was worse pthrough our house.t passed everyone was shouting. there was no alarm to warn us that the dam had broken. those who managed to save themselves, ran or got on a truck that drove by and asked people to hop on. everyone was panicking. about sixty people were riding on the truck, and the rest were left behind. >> woodruff: it's still unclear what caused the ruptures, but mine officials said seismic activity was reported in the region shortly beforehand. politicians were out in force in myanmar today, the last day of

campaigning before the country, formerly known as burma, holds its first relatively free elections in 25 years. hundreds gathered for rallies as candidates and their supporters distributed fliers to potential voters. meanwhile, election officials set up polling stations in advance of sunday's vote. opposition leader aung san suu kyi's national league for democracy party is expected to win the most votes over its military-backed rival. still to come on the newshour: president obama says "no" to the controversial keystone pipeline; flights cancelled and tourists stranded in egypt-- the aftermath of the russian plane crash; shields and brooks on this week's news, and much more. >> woodruff: to many observers,

president obama's decision on the keystone pipeline may have seemed like a forgone conclusion. but earlier during his term, environmentalists were worried that he would approve it. climate change, however, has become a central focus of the obama second term, and it was very much on his mind today when he announced the decision. it was a decision seven years in the making. >> after extensive public outreach and consultation with other cabinet agencies, the state department has decided the keystone x.l. pipeline would not serve the national interest of the united states. i agree with that decision. >> woodruff: with that, president obama formally rejected trans-canada's application to extend the controversial pipeline. the massive network would have connected oil sands in alberta, canada, to refineries along the gulf coast, adding to existing pipelines. it would have carried 800,000

barrels of oil a day. the company, along with many republican lawmakers in the u.s., argued the project would create thousands of jobs and lower gas prices. but mr. obama disagreed, pointing out gas prices are already lower. more importantly, he said, the pipeline wasn't in line with his administration's efforts to combat climate change. >> today we're continuing to lead by example, because ultimately, if we're going to prevent large parts of this earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we're going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them. >> woodruff: trans-canada quickly condemned the decision, calling it "misplaced symbolism." the company statement read:

and even some democrats in congress, from states the pipeline would have passed through, criticized the move. representative henry cuellar of texas: impact it has, so the bottom line is that it's a job creator and i see that on a day to day basis in my district. >> woodruff: president obama had faced considerable pressure from the left to act, while he kept his own opinion under wraps. environmental activists staged large protests in frot of the white house and demanded he reject the proposal. today, they called the decision a "big win." but the fate of the pipeline could change after the 2016 elections if trans-canada reapplies. several republican presidential candidates said today they would

reverse mr. obama's decision. clearly there have been and remain big divides on this decision and the impact it will have for years to come. we sample some of that reaction with senator ed markey, a democrat from massachusetts who has opposed the pipeline, and representative leonard lance, a republican from new jersey who sits on the house energy and commerce committee and was in favor of it. gentlemen, welcome to the program. let me first get your reaction to what the president said and his explanation for it. senator markey, you first. >> well, it's the right decision. the dirtiest oil in the world is the tire sand oil up in canada. this would have constructed a pipeline like a straw through the united states with us running all of the environmental risk all the way down to port arthur, texas, which is a tax-free export zone, and then the oil would just leave the

united states. no guarantee that it would be used for american purposes, even as we export young men and women overseas to protect ships bringing oil into the middle east. so it's a win on energy, it's a win on climate, it's a win on job creation because this now puts the focus back on wind and solar and other renewable energy resources and, believe it or not, the canadians wouldn't even have to have contributed to the oil liable to tax fund in the event that there was an oil spill within the united states. so the president clearly made the right decision and has much more credibility as he heads to paris to give the leadership to the rest of the world to reduce greenhouse gases. >> woodruff: representative lance, how do you read this decision? >> i think this is perception over reality. i think the pipeline would be in

the national interest of the united states. it would have created 42,000 jobs for building the pipeline, some permanent jobs, and i think this was based upon politics and not the science and not on the merits, and i'm sorry that the president acted as he did today. a new president elected in 2016 could change the decision beginning in 2017, if the company reapplies. canada is our strongest and closest ally and, while we're permittinpermitting the purchasf iranian oil across the globe, we're not doing the same for our friend and ally, canada, and this was supported overwhelmingly by the american people and overwhelmingly in congress in a bipartisan way both in the house of representatives and the united states senate. i think the vote in the house is 270 to 156 and 62 to 36 in the senate. i think it's unfortunate the president made his decision

today, seven years in the making, that should have been made within a year, and i'm sorry that the decision was made today. >> woodruff: let me ask you about some of the points you're making. senator marky, what about this point, is this really a decision that's going to have serious impact when the next president could come along in over a year and reverse it and say yes to the pipeline? >> i think that, obviously, there is a precedent which is being set. there is a decision made by a president after he has looked at the extensive record of environmental damage as well as national security and whether or not it does create energy independence, which it would not because i actually made the amendment on the senate floor in january saying that the oil has to stay in the united states. just about every republican voted no and defeated my effort to keep the oil in the united states. so anytime you hear them talk

about energy independence, ask them why they voted against keeping it in our country while the american petroleum institute is simultaneously trying to lift the ban on exportation of oil drilled for in the united states. we import $5 million barrels of oil a day into our country, pretty much the largest in the world, and this is an effort to export oil out of our country. it makes no sense whatsoever. >> woodruff: let me ask congressman lance about that. what about that? >> some of the oil would be refined and stay here. some undoubtedly would go abroad. the "washington post" gave four pinocchios to the president's remarks earlier in the year that it would just go through this country and some of it would not stay here. some of it clearly would stay here and that was evidenced by the decision of "the washington post" to give the president four pinocchios on that matter. regardless offthat, i think this is in the best interest of the united states and certainly both

the old canadian prime minister and the new cay pained prime minister mr. truedeaux support this and i hope the new president in 2017 will look at this again. >> woodruff: there is also an economic argument that's been made that these oil companies may decide, given the low price of oil now, it may not be worth their while to ship the expensive tar sands oil through the pipeline. could that make this whole thing moot, this project? >> i would imagine oil prices will rise over time. i cannot imagine they will stay where they are now. this obviously is an economic decision. but a pipeline, judy, is safer than transporting oil by rail, and that really is the alternative, and the state department recognizes this is safer than the alternative to rail or truck and that is another reason why i think the pipeline should be built. >> reporter: senator markey, let me come back to something

else. we're seeing some analysis today and the president himself said this is -- or suggested this is largely a symbolic move. he said this is not going to be the "express lane to climate disaster" some people argue. the argument is made one oil infrastructure projects is really not going to affect climate change that much. >> well, on the other hand, you cannot preach tel temperance fra bar stool. if the united states is going to be in paris, that's what the president will be doing in representing our country. you can't be telling the rest of the world to be reducing your greenhouse gases while simultaneously saying we're going to allow for a pipeline to be built with big environmental issues, carrying the dirtiest oil in the world, and to do so incredibly, as we tell other countries, that they should reduce their consumption of

fossil fuels, they should reduce their greenhouse gases. so i think that it's not insignificant. in fact, i think it's very important, in combination with the president's clean power rules to reduce greenhouse gases from the utilities, which the republicans oppose, to continue to keep the fuel economy standards heading to its 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 which the republicans pledge to take off the books, and to keep the tax breaks for wind and solar on the books, which the republicans are pledging to take off the books. it's part of a totality of a story that the united states can now bring with great credibility to paris that makes it possible for us to say that china and india and other countries, you must now do your part. >> woodruff: ten seconds levment congressman lance, do you want to respond? >> yes, i don't think either china or india will be impressed by this. i think this will make no difference at all in paris, and i hope that a new president revisits this in 2017.

>> woodruff: congressman leonard lance, senator ed markey, eappreciate you both. >> appreciate it. >> woodruff: russia suspended all flights to egypt today and the u.s. stepped up security efforts, as the search continues for answers to what brought down that russian plane. the passenger jet crashed over the sinai peninsula last saturday, killing all 224 people on board. margaret warner has the story. >> warner: it was chaos at the sharm el-sheikh airport today. britain's ambassador to egypt tried to reassure anxious travelers, to little avail. >> what's the problem? >> you're stuttering now. we want to go home! >> warner: about 20,000 british tourists have been stuck, as flight schedules remain in flux. today was the first time flights were available back to britain.

now, about 30,000 russian tourists are joining the chaos, after russian president vladimir putin, in a turnaround, stopped all flights to egypt. his security chief made the recommendation this morning. >> ( translated ): i think it will be reasonable to suspend all russian flights to egypt until we determine the real causes of what happened. we must reach completely objective and validated conclusions about the causes of the plane crash. that's important for both the investigation and informing people. >> warner: some of the wreckage from the plane crash site has been taken to moscow for explosives testing. earlier this week, british prime minister david cameron said it was "more likely than not" that a bomb brought the plane down. and the islamic state group claimed responsiblity. there were reports today that "chatter" intercepted from suspected militants pointed to that conclusion as well. still, in washington, white house spokesman josh earnest wasn't ready to make any declarations. >> the united states still has not made our own determination about the cause of the incident.

and while we can't rule anything in or out we have to consider the possibility that, of potential terrorist involvement here. >> warner: but as a precaution, the homeland security department announced new precautions for u.s. bound flights from the region, including stepped-up baggage and cargo screening. and margaret joins me now for more. >> woodruff: margaret joins me now for more. margaret, thank you for that report. so what explains the shift? they're now suspending flights. >> putin is one of the two leaders, has the most to lose economically and mostly politically. one russian said to me today, this isn't just a human question, a security question, but a deeply political one. so he's in a dilemma because here he is with his adventure into syria and in fact he was

asked on russian tv within the last two weeks does this put us at risk and he said absolutely not. so if it does turn out it's a greater risk, that's a problem. people close to the kremlin told me also, if that's the conclusion, he wants to be ready with a plan sort of like george w. bush after 9/11. so the ministry working on contingency plan and a huge move of russian assault ships moving into the eastern mediterranean. that said, the russian investigators on the ground, the people from the f.s.b. which is essentially the k.g.b. successor, they must have seen something overnight made them to recommend to putin that you've got to protect russian citizens. and something says to me if he didn't say anything and there were another attack, there would be hell to pay. >> woodruff: margaret, you also have this discrepancy with the egyptians not wanting to

believe there was a bomb or terror involved, but you have european countries saying something different, saying they have reason to think there may well have been. >> yes, and reports from france today that the french investigators -- the only investigators on the ground is the russian, egyptians and french. the u.s. is not there. so the french have come to that. but for president el-sisi, there is so much at stake. what a blow to their tourism industry. but secondly he won election after taking power in what many consider a coup kaying i am the general and we have control over sinai. well, they don't. jihadist groups are more active and one claimed leadership to the islamic state state. so they're really in a find. i talked to someone close to the government today, an egyptian,

said it really isn't definitive information, but, you know, also, he will pay a huge political price. yet, i'm told there is a recognition on the part of that government that if they wait too long, and the whole rest of the world comes to a conclusion, they look like they're hiding something. >> meantime, you also have daylight between what the british are saying and what the u.s. is saying. the british are saying we think there is likely reason to believe there was a bomb and the u.s. is saying no, we're not ready to make that declaration. >> that was a fascinating conundrum because i'm told the u.s. and the british are looking at the exact same set of intelligence. it clearly points to there being a bomb, but the british -- prime minister cameron, i'm told -- you know, they had to move quickly to protect their citizens. they have 20,000 there. the the u.s. has essentially none. they have direct flights to shae

airport. a u.s. official told me just minutes ago that it did come as a surprise to washington yet when he did this but that there was not tension over this. and the u.s. just feels that it's got no investigators on the ground. it and the brits are looking more atover head intelligence as we reported and the u.s. says it doesn't need to jump the gun or assert it's got these investigators on the ground and, frankly, undercut egypt completely, that they're just going to wait and literally 15 minutes ago i was told, somebody said to me, from what i've seen, we still can't be entirely sure. >> woodruff: margaret warner following the story of the plane crash closely. we thank you.

>> pleasure, judy, as always. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: pablo picasso, in 3d; and the man behind an on-stage comedy about racism. but first, a white house decision, finally, on the keystone pipeline; a rough week for some republican candidates; and wins for conservatives on election day. but first, to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields and new york times columnist david brooks. gentlemen, welcome. great to have you here. that keystone pipeline decision, david, the president seven years later with we now know he's against it. >> first of all, could be mythical. with oil prices so low, it doesn't matter at some level. pretending it matters, i think

it's an antienvironmental move. if the oil is going to come out of the sands, it's cleaner than have it go through the pipeline and have it go through trains and trucks and ship it to china that way. if it comes out of the sands, we may as well do it the cleanest way. so this is a political position to placate people he's offended with his other decision. >> woodruff: mark? i don't think the president's been impulsive over seven years. i think it's a symbol for both sides. i don't think it was going to be an environmental disaster. and gasoline $2 a gallon cheaper than it was the day barack obama was nominated, the urgency had abide. >> woodruff: let's quickly turn to jobs reports, david. some really good numbers today. more jobs than what had been forecast. unemployment rate is down as low

as it's been in seven years. but there is still a worry about the participation rate. >> obviously it's great and if it maintains, it's great for the democratic nominee. the labor force participation rate didn't change, it's the worrying one. so all these people are out of the job market. are they people who could get back in if there are jobs out there or people who have been so far out they can't get back in? a troubling study came out earlier in the week that middle age white life expecty is dropping which is astounding and it's dropping because of liver diseases, suicide, because of social dysfunction. those are particularly a lot of people out of the labor force. if it keeps going, we'll be able to see if some of these people can get back in and have productive and fulfilling lives. if they're out no matter what the unemployment rate, we have a gigantic problem. >> woodruff: that's a

disturbing report. >> a professor from princeton hit on the flag that so many people, it's not just liver disease and smoking and drinking, it's jobs and lives could have been changed. the cost of the deindustrialization of america. these people, the high school graduates with great lives, good jobs and could raise a family and live comfortably and all of a sudden that's gone and behind it is a low-paying job, many times not even that. the numbers today, just think of this, judy, when paul ryan and mitt romney were nominated, the unemployment rate in the country was 8.2%. that's just three years ago. at that time, they pledged to get unemployment in their first term under 6%. today it's 5%. there are more private sector jobs created in the past month than there were in eight years

of george w. bush. so it's good news. we're still waiting for the wages to kick up, but it is good news. i share with david the concern about the participation of the labor force, but this is good news and it's good news for the country. >> woodruff: i ask because people seem to have the never ending debate, is the glass half full or empty and these numbers seem to raise that question again. >> there were fears if you look at the normal rhythm of recovery, we're so deep into this recovery time-wise that you could think maybe it's time for another recession. there is some fear of that. but we don't seem close to another recession. the fed is likely to raise rates, and it's plain old good news. we might as well lie back and enjoy. >> woodruff: several things to ask you about with regard to the campaigns. some interesting reporting this week, mark, about the campaigns both of marco rubio and what

he's said or not said about his own personal financial past, and then today and in the last few days, a lot of reporting around ben carson and what he said in a book, which i happen to have right here which came out 25 years ago where he made different claims about whether he was accepted at west point, whether he applied and got a scholarship, and another one about whether he tried to knife a family member or friend. does this all add up to something in the campaign or what are we to make of this? >> the choice of president is the most personal vote any american casts. we get information overload about these people and it really is in the final analysis a choice observe character and how comfortable we are with the person. the higher the office, the more important the candidate, and you fly at a higher visibility when you're running for president. you get more exposure. your credentials are scrutinized, your record is

scrutinized. the failures of our presidents in the past century have not been of intellect or education, it's been personality or character. ben carson presents a remarkable exception. most candidates get in trouble by embellishing their record -- by saying they were all state in football not, jr. varsity, or i was at the top of my class when it took me five years to get through high school. ben carson wants to present himself as a hoodlum. >> woodruff: he was 14. but nobody else will support him. he talks about putting a knife to the belt and would have inflicted great harm. >> you know the memoir when the christian says, when i was a sinner, i was likely bad, then i was redeemed.

i wonder if that will hurt him. i play a mental game. imagine a candidate i really admired. i heard he exaggerated his west point possible admissions. would i say i really admire that guy but he told a fib about his early youth, i think i won't support him anymore. i don't think i'd do that. if there were six fibs, maybe. but if it's this one or this, two it's hard for me to imagine an actual voter who actually likes ben carson walking away because of this. memoirists, every memoir has some exaggerations and melodrama and we're all sinners so i don't think this rises to the level where this will hurt him at least so far. >> woodruff: both ben carson and marco rubio say these are questions the press are wasting their time asking and they're way off the point are. they legitimate questions? >> yes, they're legitimate questions. the president is the most important office that touches lives of everybody in this country. and the type of person, the

candor, character, constancy and reliability. ben carson's possibility, he wrote this about himself. this isn't what somebody else alleged about him. and we don't have a lot about ben carson we know. he hasn't been in office for 12, 14, 15 years, saying, oh, this was just a little -- i think marco rubio is different. marco rubio, this has been kicking around on marco rubio, the charge about using the charge card of the florida state party when he was speaker of the house in tallahassee for five or six year years. he should be ready to rebut it and do it forthrightly. they're going to find it. it's a little way jeb bush handled the question of his brother going into iraq without there being any weapons of mass destruction. it took him a week to do it. i think this is one marco rubio should be ready to step up because he knew it was coming. >> it's obviously unconsciously

very difficult for him. i wonder if he could get away with saying it was a mistake and i apologize. the rubio algigses about the student loans and buying the boat, those are fine. he shows h he had economic struggles, had kids and cashed in a retirement account. the other is the troublesome one. it would be gutsy to come out and say i did it. we showed the chris christie video about addiction. we found it so moving. i would encourage all candidates b more personal. don't be a machine and don't let the consultants control everything. >> woodruff: you mentioned jeb bush. yesterday we were able to air these. jon meacham, who's written a comprehensive of george h.w.

bush, the news coming out of that was the criticism that the first president bush makes of his son's secretary of -- the vice president and secretary of defense, donald rumsfeld and dick cheney. this week you had the younger bush commenting saying i stand by what i did. it was interesting how it put jeb bush on the spot again about the iraq war. is this a problem for jeb bush? >> it's a problem for jeb bush. he's trying to get over a bad debate, wants to get the bad campaign back on. wants to show himself connecting with voters. he sits down for the interviews and asks what do you think about your father criticizing your brother's secretary of defense, saying very unflattering things about dick cheney and donald rumsfeld. it always mystified everybody who knew the first president bush, why w., who

chose donald rumsfeld, who actually knifed bush 41, his father, and administered the coup in his rebuttal about the book saying obviously he's getting up in years and he's too old, something jon meacham put to rest in his interview with you that he was very much alert and involved and engaged. >> woodruff: that's exactly what he said. does this matter today? >> it will be a distraction to bush. but bush is at 4%. he has bigger problems. but the things the elder bush said the younger w. bush believed by 2005, this was conventional -- i believe these interviews were done in 2008, 2010, so george h.w. bush came to to views about cheney and recommendsfield by that time. younger bush did not talk to teller that much about the war. the iraq policies were not that

different. so there is a lot of interesting stuff in there. i'm struck by bush family reticence and we see it hurting jeb bush. >> i thought the peace sign in "the wall street journal" by jim bakker and his national security advisor and closest political advisor warning against the invasion by the united states of iraq was in a memo to bush 41 to 43 which he chose to ignore and he said when asked did you speak to your father, he said, i speak to my divine father, putting him in his place. >> woodruff: we didn't get around to the elections this week. talk about them next friday. >> promise? >> woodruff: i promise. mark shields, david brooks, thank you both. >> woodruff: and remember you can sign up for newshour's

politics email. click the subscribe link at the top of our homepage to receive updates from our politics team, including mark and david's weekly analysis. that's at www.pbs.org/newshour. next, pablo picasso was one of the world's most famous painters. but a new exhibit at the museum of modern art in new york examines his contributions to another medium: sculpture. jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: a court jester in bronze: an early experiment in three dimensions by pablo picasso. as "picasso sculpture", the huge and much-lauded exhibition at new york's museum of modern art shows, "experiment" is the right word. and it never stopped. ann temkin is one of the show's curators. >> i think it certainly had to do with a spark of inspiration,

either technically or some kind of puzzle that came to his mind. >> brown: picasso was the pre-eminent artist of the 20th century, but this side of him remains far less known than his painting. he formally trained as a painter, and kept at that throughout his life. upstairs in the museum one can see many famous examples, including the ground-breaking cubist masterwork from 1907, "les demoiselle d'avignon." the sculpture exhibition, over 140 works gathered from institutions around the world, shows picasso breaking ground in this medium as well. but more playfully, in spurts, as he became curious about space and material. co-curator anne umland: >> now, stepping over this threshold, we have just time- traveled three years. and in those three years, picasso, when he comes back to making three-dimensional objects, does it in ways that nobody has ever done before. >> brown: a "guitar" made of

paper, string, cardboard. a "violin" made of painted sheet metal and wire. picasso changed the history of art through his choice of everyday subjects. his use of materials. his mixing of genres. as with the six small "absinthe glasses" brought together in this exhibition for the first time since they were in picasso's studio. colorfully painted bronze. a real spoon. all twisted together into a new kind of sculpture. >> until now, pretty much, sculpture has to do with recognizable bodies of people, and they are modeled or cast, they're very solid. and instead of that, picasso decides he is going to make a sculpture of something small and domestic and that you hold in your hand. he sets out to overturn just about every sort of rule or given or way of thinking about material that you can come up with. >> brown: after every phase of experimentation, represented here by individual rooms, picasso would leave aside sculpture for several years, before picking it up again,

always with something new. these "figures" from the late 1920s, for example. and then a group of more monumental "heads" in the early 1930s. unlike his paintings, picasso rarely exhibited his sculptures. instead, he lived with them. >> he's not coming out of a sculpture tradition in western art. he's looking at african or oceanic objects that have a ritual function and that have a soul or an anima. >> brown: do you think he thought of them that way? >> i think he thought of his sculptures as personages. >> brown: personages? which means what? >> which would mean to me things that have a life. >> brown: this giant "head of a woman" is from 1932. >> i think it's amazing how she's both monumental and goofy at the same time. >> brown: you say goofy, which i'm sure is a technical term. >> very highly technical. >> brown: but it is sort of introducing the goofy to a tradition that is more about-- >> solemnity and admiration. no, i think the way that he

manages to make things that, yeah, i will stick with my word choice of "goofy" or "cartoon-y" or the way the features are exaggerated. that maybe that's back to part of what he's doing to animate something that otherwise is very solid and inanimate. >> brown: picasso remained in german-occupied paris through the war years, using materials at hand. including for this "bull's head", an old bicycle seat and handlebars cast in bronze. >> and what's amazing is with the casting, you still read the metal of the handlebars and the leather of the seat extremely clearly. and i think what picasso loved about the joke was the fact that the bronze casting of these ordinary, everyday objects sort of turns them into a work of art. but not completely. you're still aware of that original bicycle identity. >> anything goes. and you can feel that in his work. >> brown: rachel harrison is a

prominent contemporary artist whose work, like picasso's, crosses genres. she sees something more than just "play" in the master's sculptures. >> i see limbs that have come apart and have come back together, and i see things that are more gruesome than beautiful. if the materials appear playful it's because it wasn't his first medium and he had a comfort in oil and oil paint. so when he comes to these other materials like metal or plaster, there's just a kind of freedom that he has to experiment, and there's less at stake because he wasn't exhibiting them in the same way. >> brown: the playfulness continued into his later years. and the exhibition ends with a group of models picasso worked on in the 1960's, when he was in his eighties. in some cases they became monumental public sculptures, including his last and largest in chicago's richard j. daley center. >> he had dreamed of making monumentally scaled work. and with these enlargements, there's just an entirely

different physical and psychological relationship to them. >> brown: one question this exhibition has raised for some art critics: was picasso a better sculptor than painter? >> i don"t think we have to choose. i think we come down on the side of picasso the artist. >> brown: not, in the end, a bad side to choose. from the museum of modern art in new york, i'm jeffrey brown for the pbs newshour. >> woodruff: finally, tonight, as part of the friday night arts line-up, pbs and onstage in america present a stage comedy about racism that throws political correctness out the window. hari sreenivasen recently sat down with the play's author, greg kalleres. >> sreenivasan: tonight on pbs, a performance that takes a look at racism through the lens of marketing and commercialism.

"honky" is a satirical comedy about 5 people attempting to navigate the dicey waters of race, rhetoric and basketball shoes. a performance of the play was taped at the san diego repertory theater, and the author greg kalleres joins me know. so, thank you for joining me. first of all, why this play? >> i worked in advertising. i kind of stumbled into advertising. i think i was shocked mainly by how white the industry was in general, and because so much of the stuff we were marketing was to non-white demographics, it was interesting to see how people were forced to speak comfortably about something they were clearly not comfortable. >> would you wear these? >> sure. >> i think they look like a circus shoe. >> you don't like it. >> i can't think of a pair of pants that would go with them. >> for me the language was the most important thing, so hearing people tiptoe around words and the things they can say and

can't say and should and shouldn't say and shouldn't say when that guy is not in the room-- is fascinating. >> for the last 15 years, sky has been selling to your people and only your people. is it cool if i talk like this? i'm not making you uncomfortable. my people, your people, i grew up in chicago, the point is these are facts. >> sreenivasan: there is a black man struggling with the tension of selling basketball shoes to a young urban demographics. there's a white guy who has problems with the words that he used and the consequences they could have had, so many people dealing with guilt of their racial identity in america today on so many different levels. >> these two characters specifically, thomas is the black shoe designer and he grew up in a really rich white neighborhood and i think he has a lot of conflict around that because there is so much around the idea of being black enough. he designs shoes for a shoe

company primarily targeting young black males and he's very proud of that. but he also has this other side of him that he feels is white. >> i knew that it would take a toll, growing up around all those rich white people takes a toll, it takes a toll. >> ok. >> i knew eventually i would be getting bent over by clay aiken, cold play, downton abbey. >> i wake up in a cold sweat needing to buy some $600 nottingham wall sconce from pottery barn! >> you said that sconce gave your place a nice classic feel. >> you're damn right it's a nice classic feel. and it's an elegant way to disguise the lack of furniture in that part of the room, but you're missing the point! >> and that is? >> this is not what black people talk about. >> then there's peter, the copywriter that i relate to the most because i was this copywriter writing for brands that were targeting urban

demographics, and when you're targeting a demographic and you're not that demographic, i thought that was an interesting "in" for the play. >> why don't you tell me why you came to see me today? >> a kid was murdered for a pair of shoes, and i think it's because of the commercial i wrote. >> sky shoes, you wrote that ad? s'up now? >> not too much, how are you? >> sreenivasan: there's also this idea there is no more derogatory a term for white people than racist. it triggers all sorts of responses. >> i couldn't think of a word that insults white people the way the n-word or other slurs insult people of color. and there really isn't one, which is why the play is called "honky," it's such a benign,

comical term. >> sreenivasan: if that's the worst you can do. >> if that's the worst you can do, really, honky, i mean i haven't heard that word since being used with sincerity since a clint eastwood-dirty harry movie i think. the idea of being a racist, i think for white people, is the closest you get to making them scared, offended, or upset. >> i run an urban shoe company. >> urban? >> it's a euphemism for african american. the point is i spend a lot of times with african americans. i know the african american culture and sell to the african american a product. >> you don't have to say african american every time, mr. tallison. you can simply use urban. >> i was going to say a pronoun. >> oh. >> i sell basketball shoes to them. >> well, now the pronoun is offensive. >> my overall point is i don't think i'm a racist. >> of course you don't. that's precisely why you are one. do you understand? >> no. >> they will often lose sleep over "i'm not a racist, i didn't say anything racist.

did i say something racist? no, no. i'm not racist, what i said was-- ," and there's a lot of back-stepping, digging more graves for themselves as they continue to, constantly, obviously attempt well-meaningly to say the right thing, and often failing. >> i'm getting married soon. >> congratulations. >> thank you. she's very white. ( laughs ) i don't know why i just said that, i don't mean white as in the distinction between the colors white and black. i just mean she's very-- you know-- white. ( laughs ) this is sounding bad, the truth is i'm totally color blind, and i don't mean that figuratively either, i mean i don't see color. you should see my socks-- totally integrated. >> i think the humor in the play comes from the attempt to never

be called one, and all the efforts we make for people never to say you're a racist, or think you're a racist. >> sreenivasan: one of other threads you pull on in this is the commercialization of racial identity in america, you use a product, a basketball shoe specifically. there is this tension on what keeps something real, what makes something sold out, when does that crossover happen. >> cultural appropriation has been going on forever. >> sreenivasan: it's part of what america is about. >> absolutely. >> sreenivasan: you take everything from everyone and make something new out of it. >> yeah, because it's authentic. and then we de-authenticate it-- >> sreenivasan: homogenize it. >> ...exactly, and it becomes a cliché. >> they're mine? >> yours? didn't you hear what i just said? give them to me. >> no, no, no, no, this is good. what is yours? what does the black man, thomas haj, have when all the dust is settled?

your history? culture? no. bought and sold, years ago, just like ours. >> it's something to think about when you watch commercials or watch anything. how, where do they come from, where do these ideas come from? >> sreenivasan: you made the awkward very digestible. >> hopefully, at least it's somewhat funny. >> sreenivasan: greg kalleres, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you, this was great. >> sreenivasan: "honky" is a project of "onstage america" and airs on most pbs stations. >> woodruff: on the newshour online, a syrian filmmaker captured beautiful scenes of his hometown just weeks before war erupted. today, that footage has become a love letter to his country, and is part of a short film called "in damascus." watch that on our home page. and meet a man who's celebrating his 161st birthday today; that is, his alter ego john philip sousa's birthday. for the past eight years ron

anzalone has impersonated sousa at an annual celebration at washington, d.c.'s historic congressional cemetery. he offered us a quick history lesson on the famous composer's legacy and love of marching music. all that and more is on our web site, www.pbs.org/newshour. and a reminder about some upcoming programs from our pbs colleagues. gwen ifill is preparing for "washington week" which airs later this evening. here's a preview: >> ifill: we've got a lot to tackle tonight: from the white house, where the final shoe dropped on a controversial oil pipeline, to the campaign trail, where ben carson and jeb bush are both on the defensive. oh, and good news on jobs. all tonight, on washington week. judy? >> woodruff: on pbs newshour weekend saturday, how police in memphis are trying to keep those with mental illness out of jail. here's an excerpt from the report.

>> involved and diagnosed with adhd and mood disorder. >> what's going on? ross is part of the memphis police department crisis intervention team or c.i.t. >> everybody at this school knows that you're smart, that you've got something going for yourself -- >> ross is trained to deescalate situations using mostly verbal techniques. >> i'm going to give you my number. when you're having a problem, call me, okay? if you're feeling sad or depressed, call me. >> woodruff: that's to more night on pbs "newshour" weekend. we'll be right here monday. with a look at the massive epidemic of diabetes in mexico, and one approach to improving access to much needed medical care. that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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